Never Give Up On Love
by VPMcBride
Summary: I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you. An OOC/HEA short story about never giving up on love.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 ** _Chapter 1_**

"I don't believe in miracles," Ana said, looking at her best friend with her lips pressed tightly together. Sunlight shown on Ana's shiny-clean face, making her look like the "before" photo of a model without makeup. But lack of makeup only revealed perfect skin, high cheekbones, and the most extraordinary powder blue eyes.

"I never said a word about miracles," Kate replied, her voice showing her exasperation. She was as dark as Ana was fair, half a foot taller, and voluptuous. "All I said was that you should go to the Christmas dance at the club. What's so miraculous about that?"

"You said that I might meet someone wonderful and get married," Ana answered.

"Okay, so shoot me, I apologize." She took a look at her once-beautiful best friend; Kate found it difficult to believe that she used to be eaten up with jealousy over Ana's looks. Now Ana's hair hung lifeless about her shoulders, with split ends. She hadn't a trace of makeup on and with her pale coloring; Ana looked like a teenager without it. Instead of the elegant clothes she used to wear, she now had on an old sweat shirt that Kate knew had belonged to Ana's deceased fiancé.

"You used to be the most gorgeous girl at the club," Kate said wistfully. "I remember seeing you and Jose dance at Christmas. Remember that red dress you had, slit so high your tonsils were visible? But how you and Jose looked when you danced together was worth it! Those legs of yours had every man in the room drooling. Every man in Seattle was drooling! Except my Treavor, of course, he never looked."

Over her teacup, Ana gives a faint smile. "Key words in that are 'girl' and 'Jose'. Neither of which I am or have any longer."

"Give me a break!" Kate wailed. "You sound as though you're ninety-two years old and should be choosing your coffin. You turned twenty-five, that's all. I hit twenty-seven this year and age hasn't stopped me." At that Kate got up, her hand at her back, and waddled over to the sink to get another cup of herbal tea. She was so hugely pregnant she could hardly reach the kettle.

"Point made," Ana said. "But no matter how young or old I am, that doesn't bring Jose back." When she said the name, there was reverence in her voice, as though she were speaking the name of a deity.

Kate gave a great sigh, for they'd had this conversation many times. "Jose was my cousin and I loved him very much, but Ana, Jose is dead and he's been dead for two years. It's time you started living again."

"You don't understand about Jose and me. We were…"

Kate's face was full of sympathy, and reaching across the table, she clasped Ana's wrist and squeezed. "I know he was everything to you, but you have a lot to offer some man. A man who is alive."

"No one understands" Ana said sharply. Jose was more than just my fiancée, we were business partners. We were equals. Jose asked my opinion about everything, from the business to the color of his socks. He made me feel useful. Can you understand that? Every man I've met before or since Jose seems to want a woman to sit still, look pretty and not have a brain. The minute you start telling him your opinions, he starts checking his phone and asks the waiter to give him the check."

There was nothing that Kate could say to dispute what Ana was saying, for Kate had seen firsthand what a good partnership they'd had. But now Kate was sick with seeing her beloved friend hide herself away from the world, so she wasn't about to tell Ana that she'd never find anyone who was half the man Jose was.

"Alright," Kate said, "I'll stop. If you are bound and determined to commit yourself to forever morn for Jose, so be it." She gave her friend's back a hard look and decided to move the conversation to another subject. "Tell me about that job of yours." Her tone of voice told what she thought of Ana's job.

Turing away from the window, Ana laughed. "Kate, no one could ever doubt your opinions on anything. First you don't like that I love my fiancée and second you don't approve of my job."

"So sue me. I think you're worth more than eternal spinster hood and death-by-data entry."

Ana could never bare her best friend any animosity because Kate truly did think Ana was the best there was, and had her best interest at heart. "My job is fine," she said, sitting back down at the table. "Everyone is well and everything is going fine."

"That boring, huh?"

Ana laughed. "Not horribly boring, just a little bit boring."

"So why don't you quit?" Before Ana could answer, Kate held up her hand. "I apologize. It's none of my business if you, with all your brains, want to bury yourself in some administrative assistant job." Kate's eyes lit up. "So anyway, tell me about your divine, sex on legs, beautiful gorgeous boss?"

Ana smiled and ignored the reference to her boss. "The other women in the office gave me a birthday party last week." At that she lifted her eyebrows in challenge, for Kate was always saying snide things about the six women Ana worked with.

"Oh? What did they give you? A rocking chair and a couple of cats?"

"Support hose," she said, then laughed. "No, no, I'm kidding. Just the usual things. Actually, they chipped in together and got me a very nice gift."

"And what was that?"

Ana took a drink of her tea. "An eye glasses holder."

"A what?"

Ana's eyes twinkled. "A holder for my eyeglasses. You know, one of those string things that go around your neck. It's a very nice one, eighteen-karat gold. With little, ah, cats on the clasp."

Kate didn't smile. "Ana, you have to get out of there. The combined age of those women must be three hundred years. And didn't they notice that you don't wear glasses?"

"Three hundred and seventy-seven." When Kate looked at her in question, Ana said, "Their ages total three hundred and seventy-seven years. I added it up one day. And they said they knew I didn't wear glasses, but that as someone who spends so much time looking at my computer screen and working over the weekend that I would soon need them."

"For an ancient like you, support hose are just around the corner."

"Actually, Miss Anderson gave me a pair last Christmas. She's sixty-one and swears by them."

At that Kate did laugh. "Oh, Ana, this is serious. You have to get out of there."

" _Mmmmm_ ," Ana said, looking down at her cup. "My position does have its uses."

"What are you up to?" Kate snapped.

Ana gave her friend a look of innocence. "I have no idea what you mean."

For a moment Kate leaned back against the bench and studied Ana. "I think at last I am beginning to understand. You are too clever to throw away everything. So help me, Anastasia Steele, if you don't tell me everything and tell me now, I'll think of some dreadful way to punish you. Like maybe not allowing you to see my baby until she's like ten-years old."

When Ana's face turned white, Kate knew she had her. "Tell!"

"It's a nice position and the people I work with are…."

Suddenly, Kate's face lit up. "Don't you dare play the martyr to me. I've known you since you were eight years old, remember? You take extra work from those old biddies so you'll know everything that's going on. I'll bet you know more about what's going on in that company than Mr. Grey does." Kate smiled at her own cleverness. "And you let your looks go so you don't intimidate anyone. If that Miss Parker saw you as you looked a couple of years ago, she's find some reason to fire you."

Ana's blush was enough to tell her that she was right.

"Pardon my stupidity," Kate said, "but why don't you get a position that pays more than being an administrative assistant?"

"I tried!" Ana said vehemently. "I applied at dozens of companies, but they wouldn't consider me because I don't have a university degree. Four years of managing a hardware store means nothing to a personnel director."

"You only quadrupled that store's profits."

"Whatever. That doesn't matter. Only that piece of paper saying I sat through years of boring classes means anything."

"So why don't you go back to school, finish your remaining year and get that piece of paper?"

"I am going to school!" Ana took a drink of her tea to calm herself.

"Look, Kate, I know you mean well, but I know what I'm doing. I know I'll never find another man like Jose who I can work with, so maybe I can learn enough to open my own business. I have the money from the sale of Jose's half of the hardware store, and I'm managing to save some or most of what I earn from this job. Meanwhile, I am learning everything about running a company the size of Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc."

Ana smiled. "I'm not really an idiot about my little old ladies. They think they use me to do their work, but truthfully, I'm very selective about what I agree to do. Everything in that office, from every department, goes across my desk. Since I always make myself available for all weekends and holidays, I always see what's most urgent."

"And what do you plan to do with all this knowledge?"

"Open a business somewhere maybe in retail. It's what I know, although without Jose there to do the selling, I don't know how I'll cope."

"You should find a man and get married!" Kate said forcefully.

"But I don't want to get married!" Ana shouted. "I'm just going to get pregnant!" After she'd said it, Ana looked at her friend in horror. "Please forget I said that," she whispered. "Look, I better go. I have things…"

"Move from that seat and you're dead," Kate said levelly.

With a great sigh, Ana collapsed back against the banquette chair in Kate's sunny kitchen. "Don't do this to me. Please, Kate."

"Do what?" she asked innocently.

"Pry and snoop and generally interfere in something that is none of your business."

"I can't imagine what you could be referring to. I've never done anything like that in my life. Now tell me everything."

Ana tried to change the subject. "Another gorgeous woman came out of Mr. Grey's office in tears last week," she said, referring to her boss, a man who seemed to drive Kate mad with desire. But Ana was sure that was because she didn't know him.

"What do you mean, you're 'going' to get pregnant?" Kate persisted.

"An hour after she had left, a jeweler showed up at Mr. Grey's office with a briefcase and two armed guards. We all figure he was buying her off. Drying her tears with emeralds, so to speak."

"Have you done anything yet about getting pregnant?"

"And on Friday we heard that Mr. Grey was engaged…again. But not to the woman who'd left his office. This time he's engaged to a redhead." She leaned across the table to Kate. "And Saturday I typed the prenuptial agreement."

That got Kate's attention. "What was in it?"

Ana leaned back again, her face showing her distaste. "He's a bastard, Kate. He really is. I know he's very good looking and he's rich beyond imagining, but as a human, he's not worth much. I know these…these social butterflies of his are probably just after his money. They certainly couldn't like him…but they are human beings and, as such, they are worthy of some sort of kindness."

"Will you get off your soapbox and tell me what the prenuptial agreement said?"

"The woman, his bride, had to agree to give up all rights to anything that was purchased with his money during the marriage. As far as I could tell, she wasn't allowed to own anything. In the event of a divorce, even the clothing he bought her would remain with him."

"Really? And what was he planning to do with women's clothing?" Kate wiggled her eyebrows.

"Nothing interesting, I'm sure. He'd just find another gorgeous gold digger the same size that fit them. Or maybe he'd sell them so he could buy a case of engagement rings, since he gives them out so often like candy."

"What is it you dislike about the man so much?" Kate asked. "He gave you a job, didn't he?"

"Oh, yes, he has an office full of women. I swear he instructs personnel to hire them by the length of their legs and the color of their hair. He surrounds himself with beautiful women executives."

"So what's your complaint?"

"He never allows them to do anything!" Ana said with a passion. "Grey makes every decision himself. As far as I know he doesn't even ask his team of beauties what they think should be done, much less allow them to actually do it." She gripped her cup handle until it nearly snapped. "Christian Grey could live on a desert island all by himself. He needs no other person in life."

"He seems to need women," Kate said softly. She'd met Ana's boss twice and she'd been thoroughly charmed by him.

"He's the proverbial American playboy," Ana said. "The longer the legs, and the longer the hair, the more he likes them. Beautiful and dumb, that's what he likes." She smiled maliciously. "However, so far none of them have been stupid enough to marry him when they discover that all they get out of the marriage is him."

"Well…" Kate said, seeing the anger in Ana's face, "maybe we should change the subject. How are you planning to get a baby if you run from every man who looks at you? I mean, the way you dress now is calculated to keep men at a distance, isn't it?"

"My! But that was good tea," Ana said. "You are certainly a good cook, Kate, and I've enjoyed our visit immensely, but I need to go now." With that she rose and headed to the kitchen door.

"Ow!" Kate yelled. "I'm going into labor! Help me."

The blood seemed to drain from Ana's face as she ran to her friend. "Lean back, rest. I'll call the hospital."

But as Ana reached the phone, Kate said in a normal voice, "I think it's passed, but you better stay here until Treavor gets home. Just in case."

After a moment of looking at Kate with anger, Ana admitted defeat and sat back down. "All right, what is it you want to know?"

"I don't know why, but I seem to be very interested in babies lately. Must be something I ate. But anyway, when you mentioned babies, it made me want to hear all of it."

"There is nothing to tell. Really nothing. I just…"

"Just what?" Kate urged.

"I just regret that Jose and I never got the chance to actually get married and have children. We both thought we had all the time in the world."

Kate didn't say anything, just gave Ana time to sort out her thoughts and talk. "Recently, I went to a fertility clinic and had a complete examination. I seem to be perfectly healthy."

When Ana said no more, Kate said softly, "So you've been to a clinic and now what?"

"I am to choose a donor from a catalog," Ana said simply.

Kate's sense of the absurd got the better of her. "Ah, then you get the turkey baster out and…"

Ana didn't laugh as her eyes flashed angrily. "You can afford to be smug since you have a loving husband who can do the job, but what am I supposed to do? Put an ad on Facebook for a donor? 'One lonely woman wants child but no husband. That would sure bring out the cream of the crop of crazy weirdos."

"If you got out more and met some men you might…" Kate stopped because she could see that Ana was getting angry. "I know, why don't you ask that gorgeous boss of yours to do the job? He beats a turkey baster any day."

Ana tried to stay annoyed, but Kate's persistence thawed her…. "Mr. Grey, rather than a raise," Ana mimicked, "would you mind very much giving me a bit of semen? I brought a jar, and no, I don't mind waiting."

Kate laughed, for this was the old Ana, the one she'd rarely seen in the last two years.

Ana smiled. "According to my check up and charts, I will be at peak fertility on Christmas Day, so maybe I'll just wait up for Santa Claus."

"Beats milk and cookies," Kate said. "But won't you feel bad for all the children he neglects because he spent the whole night at your house?"

Kate laughed so hard at her own joke that she let out a scream.

"It wasn't that funny," Ana said. "Maybe Santa's helper could…Kate? Are you all right?"

"Call Treavor," she whispered, clutching her big stomach; then as another contraction hit her, she said, "The hell with Treavor, call the hospital and tell them to rush a delivery of morphine. This hurts!"

Shaking, Ana found her phone and called.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 ** _Chapter 2_**

"I am such an idiot!" Ana said, looking at herself in the mirror and seeing the tears coming out of the corner of her eyes. Tearing off a paper towel from the dispenser, she dabbed at the tears, and then saw that her eyes were really red. Which of course made sense since she's now been crying for most of 24 hours?

"Everyone cries at the birth of a baby," she muttered to herself. "People cry at all happy occasions, such as weddings, engagement announcements and at the birth of babies."

She looked in the mirror and knew that she was lying to herself. Last night she'd held Kate's daughter in her arms and she'd wanted that child so much that she's nearly walked out the door with her. Frowning, Kate had taken her baby from her. "You can't have mine," she said. "Get your own."

To cover her embarrassment, Ana had tried to make jokes about her feelings, but they had fallen flat, and in the end, she'd left Kate's hospital room feeling the worst she had since Jose' death.

So now Ana was at the office and she was nearly overpowered with a sense of longing for a home and family. Making another attempt to mop up her face, she heard voices at the door and without thinking she hurried into an open stall and locked the door behind her. She didn't want anyone to see her. Today was the office Christmas party and everyone was in high spirits. Between the promise of free food and drink this afternoon and a generous bonus received from GEH this morning, the whole office was a cauldron of merriment.

If Ana hadn't already been in a bad mood, she would have been when she realized that one of the two women who entered was Gia Matteo, a woman who considered herself the resident authority on Christian Trevelyan-Grey. Ana knew she was trapped inside the stall, for if she tried to leave the restroom, Gia would catch her and badger her into hearing more about the wonders of the saintly Christian Grey.

"Have you seen him yet?" Gia gushed in a way that some people reserved for the Sistine Chapel. "He's the most beautiful creature on earth – tall, handsome, kind, understanding."

"But what about that woman this morning?" the second woman asked. If she hadn't heard all about Mr. Grey, then she had to be the new assistant Oliva, and Gia was breaking her in. "She didn't seem to think he was so wonderful."

At that, Ana smiled. Her sentiments exactly.

"But you, my dear, have no idea what that darling man has been through," Gia said as though talking about a Greek God.

Standing against the wall, Ana put her head back and wanted to cry out in frustration. Did Gia never talk about anything but the Great Tragedy of Christian Grey? Wasn't there anything else in her life?

"Three years ago Mr. Grey was madly, insanely in love with a young woman named Leila Williams." Gia said the name as though it were something vile and disgusting. "More than anything in life he wanted to marry her and raise a family. He wanted his own home, his own place of security. He wanted…"

Ana rolled her eyes; for Gia was adding more to the tale each time she told it: fewer facts, more melodrama. Now Gia was on to the magnificence of the wedding that Mr. Grey had alone planned and paid for. According to Gia, his fiancée had spent all her time having her nails done.

"And she left him?" the new assistant asked, her voice properly awed.

"She left that dear man standing at the front of the church before seven hundred guests who had flown in from all over the world."

"How awful," the assistant said. "He must have been humiliated. What was her reason? And if she did have a good reason, couldn't she have done it in a more caring manner?"

Ana tightened her jaw. It was her belief that Mr. Grey waited until the night before or the day of the wedding to present his bride with one of his prenuptial agreements, letting her know just what he thought of her. Of course Ana could never say that, as she was not supposed to be typing Mr. Grey's private work. That was the job of his personal secretary. But beautiful Miss Andrea Parker was much too important to actually enter letters into her computer, so she gave the work to one of the older administrative assistants, Miss Jameson. But then Miss Jameson was past seventy and too rickety to do a lot of typing. Knowing she'd lose her job if she admitted this and since she had a rather startling number of cats to feed, Miss Jameson secretly gave all of Mr. Grey's private work to Ana.

"So that's why all the women since then have left him?" the assistant asked. "I mean, there was that woman this morning."

Ana didn't have to hear Gia's recapping of the events of this morning, as it was all the office staff could talk about. What with the Christmas party and the bonus, yet another of Mr. Grey's women dumping him was almost more excitement than they could bear. Ana was genuinely concerned for Miss Jameson's heart.

This morning, minutes after the bonuses had been handed out; a tall, gorgeous redhead had stormed into the offices with a ring box in her trembling hand. The outside receptionist hadn't needed to ask who she was for angry women with ring boxes in their hands were a common sight in the offices of Mr. Christian Grey. One by one, all doors had been opened to her, until she was inside the inner sanctum of Mr. Grey's office.

Fifteen minutes later, the redhead had emerged, crying, ring box gone, but clutching a jeweler's box that was about the right size to hold a bracelet.

"How could they do this to him?" the women in the office had whispered, all their anger descending onto the head of the woman. "He's such a lovely man, so kind, so considerate," they said.

"His only problem is that he falls in love with the wrong women. If he could just find a good woman, she'd love him forever" was the conclusion that was always drawn. "He just needs a woman who understands what pain he has been through."

After this pronouncement, every woman in the office under thirty-five would head for the restroom, where she'd spend her lunch hour trying to make herself as alluring as possible.

Except for Ana, she would remain at her desk, forcing herself to keep her opinions to herself.

Now Gia gave a sigh that made the stall door rattle against its lock. Since Gia had told every female in the office all about the divine Mr. Grey, she wasn't worried about anyone overhearing.

"So now he's free again," Gia said, her voice heavy with the sadness…and hope…at such a state. "He's still looking for his true love, and someday some very lucky woman is going to become Mrs. Christian Trevelyan-Grey."

At that the assistant murmured in agreement. "The way that woman treated him was tragic. Even if she hated him, she should have thought of the wedding guests."

At those words, Ana could have groaned, for she knew that Gia had recruited yet another soldier for her little army that constantly played worship-the-boss.

"What are you doing?" Ana heard Gia ask.

"Filling in the correct name," the assistant answered.

A moment later, Gia gave a sigh that had to have come straight from her heart. "Oh, yes, I like that. Yes, I like that very much. Now we must go. We wouldn't want to miss even a second of the Christmas party." She paused, and then said suggestively, "There's no telling what can happen under the mistletoe."

Ana waited for a minute after the women were gone, then, allowing her breath to escape, she left the stall. Looking in the mirror, she saw that the time she'd spent hiding had allowed her eyes to clear. After washing her hands, she went to the towel holder and there she saw what the women had just been talking about. Long ago some woman (probably Gia) had stolen a photograph of Mr. Grey and hung it on the wall of the women's restroom. Then she'd glued a nameplate (also probably stolen) under it. But now, on the wall above the plate was written "Crestfallen" before the C. Grey.

Looking at it for a moment, Ana shook her head in disgust, and then with a smirk she withdrew a permanent black marker from her handbag, crossed out the handwritten word, and replaced it with, "Charismatic."

For the first time that day, she smiled, and then she left the restroom feeling much better. So much better, in fact, that she allowed herself to be pulled into the elevator by fellow employees to go upstairs to the huge GEH Christmas party.

One whole floor of the building owned by GEH had been set aside for conferences and meetings. Instead of being divided into offices of more or less equal space, the floor had been arranged as though it were a sumptuously, if rather oddly, decorated house. There was a room with tatami mats, shoji screens, and jade objects that was used for Japanese clients. Colefax and Fowler had made an English room that looked like something from Chatsworth. For clients with a scholarly bent there was a library with several thousand books in handsome pecan wood cases. There was a kitchen for the resident chef and a kitchen for clients who liked to rustle up their own grub. A Santa Fe room dripped beaded moccasins and leather shirts with horsehair tassels.

And there was a big, empty room that could be filled with whatever was needed for the moment, such as an enormous Christmas tree bearing what looked to be half a ton of white and silver ornaments. All the employees looked forward to seeing that tree, each year "done" by some up-and-coming young designer, each year different, each year perfect. This tree would be a source of discussion for weeks to come.

Personally, Ana liked the tree in the day-care center better. It was never more than four feet tall so the children could reach most of it, and it was covered with things the children of the employees had made, such as paper chains and popcorn strings.

Now, making her way toward the day-care center, she was stopped by three men from accounting that had obviously had too much to drink and were wearing silly paper hats. For a moment they tried to get Ana to go with them, but when they realized who she was, they backed off. Long ago she'd taught the men of the office that she was off limits, whether it was during regular work hours or in a more informal situation like this one.

"Sorry," they murmured and moved past her.

The day-care center was overflowing with children, for the families of the Grey's who owned the building were there.

"If you say nothing else about the Grey's, they are fertile," Miss Jameson had once said, making everyone except Ana laugh.

And they were a nice group, Ana admitted to herself. Just because she didn't like Christian Grey was no reason to dislike the entire family. They were always polite to everyone, but they kept to themselves; but then with a family the size of theirs, they probably didn't have time for outsiders. Now, looking into the chaos of the children's playroom, Ana seemed to see doubles of everyone, for twins ran in the Grey family to an extraordinary degree. There were adult twins and toddler twins and babies that looked so much alike they could have been clones.

And no one, including Ana, could tell them apart. Christian had twin brothers who had offices in the same building, and whenever either of them arrived, the question "Which are you?" was always asked.

Someone shoved a drink into Ana's hand saying, "Loosen up, baby," but she didn't so much as take a sip. What with spending most of the night in the hospital to be near Kate, she'd not eaten since yesterday evening and she knew that whatever she drank would go straight to her head.

As she stood in the corridor looking in at the playroom, it seemed to her that she'd never seen so many children in her life: nursing babies, crawling, taking first steps, two with books in their hands, one eating a crayon, an adorable little girl with pigtails down her back, two beautiful identical twin boys playing with identical fire trucks.

"Ana, you are a masochist," she whispered to herself, then turned on her heel and walked briskly down the corridor to the elevator. The elevator going down was empty, and once she was inside, loneliness swept over her. She had been planning to spend Christmas with Kate and Treavor, but now that they had the new baby, they wouldn't want to be bothered with her.

Stopping in the office she shared with the other administrative assistants, Ana started to gather her things so she could go home, but on second thought she decided to finish two letters and get them out. There was nothing urgent, but why wait?

Two hours later Ana had finished all that she'd left on her desk and all that three of the others had left on their desks.

Stretching, gathering up the personal letters she'd typed for Mr. Grey, one about some land he was buying in Tokyo and the other a letter to his brother, she walked down the corridor to Mr. Grey's private suite. Knocking first as she always did, and then realizing that she was alone on the floor, she opened the door. It was odd to see this inner sanctum without the formidable Miss Andrea Parker in it. Like a lion guarding a temple, the woman hovered over Mr. Grey possessively, never allowing anyone who didn't have necessary business to see him.

So now Ana couldn't help herself as she walked softly about the room, which she's been told had been decorated to Miss Parker's exquisite taste. The room was all white and silver, just like the tree…and just as cold, Ana thought.

Carefully, she put the letters on Miss Parker's desk and started to leave, and then on second thought, she looked toward the double doors that led into his office. As far as she knew none of the women in her department had seen inside that office, and Ana, as much as anyone else, was very curious to see inside those doors.

Ana well knew that the security guard would be by soon, but she'd just heard him walking in the hall, keys jangling, and if she was caught, she could tell him that she had been told to put the papers in Mr. Grey's office.

Silently, as though she were a thief, she opened the door to the office and looked inside. "Hello? Anyone here?" Of course, she knew that she'd probably drop dead of a heart attack if anyone answered, but still she was cautious.

While looking around, she put the letters on his desk. She had to admit that he had the ability to hire a good decorator; certainly no mere businessman could have chosen the furnishings of his office, because there wasn't one piece of black leather or chrome in sight. Instead, the office looked as though it had been taken intact from a French chateau, complete with carved paneling, worn flagstones on the floor, and a big fireplace dominating one wall. The tapestry-upholstered furniture looked well-worn and fabulously comfortable.

Against a wall was a bookshelf filled with books, one shelf covered with framed photographs, and Ana was drawn to them. Inspecting them, she figured that it would take a calculator to add up all the children in the photos. At the end was a silver-framed photo of a young man holding up a string of fish. He was obviously a Grey, but not one Anastasia had seen before. Curious, she picked up the picture and looked at the man.

"Seen all you want?" came a rich baritone that made Ana jump so high she dropped the photo onto the flagstones, where the glass promptly shattered.


	3. Chapter 3 - Author's Note

Author's Note:

Just wanted to say thank you so much for all the follows/favorites/reviews on my first story. I would have been happy with just one.

This story was completed back in October, but as a reader I was distracted and caught up in a 70 chapter story, which turned into reading 200+ chapters….Just wanted to thank Bronze Goddess for her three wonderful stories "Paging Dr. Steele" "Mending Dr. Steele" and "Becoming Dr. Grey."….simply amazing writing….which isn't finished yet. Because of these three stories I decided to finish editing what I had written and finally post them onto FF.

Sorry I digress….back to what I was saying…..All I need to do for my story is break it up into chapters and review. I do already have the epilogue written, just making necessary changes. I am hoping to have all the chapters edited and posted over the next two weeks.

If anyone is interested….there are LOTS of amazing writers here on FF and I've read so many of them since finding this website back in April 2016. Just take a look at "My Favorite Authors" and "My Favorite Stories." You won't be disappointed.

Hope everyone has a SAFE, Fun and Happy New Year.

Yeah 2017 is so much closer to Feb 10, 2017!

Virginia


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 _…_ _..Ana jumped so high she dropped the photo onto the flagstones, where the glass promptly shattered…._

 ** _Chapter 3_**

"I…I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I didn't know anyone was here." Bending to pick up the picture, she looked up at eyes that were gray, not a dull, unremarkable gray like concrete or stone. They were the dark gray of the ocean an instant before dawn's first rays strike the water…. _OMG what am I thinking…._ "I'm sorry, truly I am. I will pay for the damage," she said nervously, trying to gather the pieces of broken glass.

He didn't say a word, just glared down at her, frowning.

With as much in her hand as she could pick up, she stood and started to hand the pieces to him, but when he didn't take them, she set them down on the end of the shelf. "I don't think the photo is damaged," she said. "I, uh, is that one of your brothers? I don't believe I've seen him before."

At that Mr. Grey's eyes widened and Ana was quite suddenly afraid of him. They were alone on the floor and all she really knew about him personally was that a lot of women had refused to marry him. Was it because of his loathsome prenuptial agreements or was it because of something else? His violent temper maybe?

"I must go," she whispered, then turned on her heel and ran from his office.

Ana didn't stop running until she'd reached the elevator and punched the down button. Right now all she wanted on earth was to go home to familiar surroundings and try her best to get over her embarrassment. Caught like a teenage girl snooping in her boss's office! How could she have been so stupid?

When the elevator door opened, it was packed with people going up to the party three floors above, and even though Ana protested loudly that she wanted to go down, they pulled her in with them and took her back to the party.

The first thing she saw was a waiter with a tray of glasses full of champagne, and Ana downed two of them immediately. Feeling much better, she was able to calm her frazzled nerves. So she was caught snooping in the boss's office. So what? Worse things have happened to a person. By her third glass of champagne, she'd managed to convince herself that nothing at all had happened.

Standing before her now was a woman with her arms full of a hefty little boy and juggling an enormous diaper bag while she frantically tried to open a stroller.

"Could I help you?" Ana asked.

"Oh, would you please?" the woman answered, stepping back from the stroller as she obviously thought Ana meant to help her with that.

But instead, Ana took the child out of her arms and for a moment clasped him tightly to her.

"He doesn't usually like strangers, but he likes you." The woman smiled. "You wouldn't mind watching him for a few moments, would you? I'd love to get something to eat."

Holding the boy close to her, while he snuggled his sweet-smelling head into her shoulder, Ana whispered, "I'll keep him forever."

At that a look of fright crossed the woman's face. Snatching her child away from Ana, she hurried down the hall.

Moments ago Ana had thought she'd never before been so embarrassed, but this was worse than being caught snooping. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed to herself, and then strode toward the elevators. She would go home now and never leave her house again in her life.

As soon as she got into the elevator, she realized that she'd left her handbag and coat in her office on the ninth floor. If it weren't zero degrees outside and her car keys weren't in her purse, she'd have left things where they were, but she had to return. Leaning her head back against the wall, she knew she'd had too much to drink, but she also knew without a doubt that after Christmas she'd no longer have a job. As soon as Mr. Grey told the formidable Miss Andrea Parker that he'd caught an unknown woman…for Ana was sure the great and very busy Christian Grey had never so much as looked at someone as lowly as her, in his office, Ana would be dismissed.

On the wall of the elevator was a bronze plaque that listed all the Grey's in the building, and toward the bottom it looked as though Gia's new recruit had been busy again, for a piece of paper had been glued over Christian Grey's name that read, "Charming." Smiling, Ana took a pen out of her pocket and changed it to, "Cantankerous."

When the elevator stopped, she didn't know whether it was the alcohol or her defiance, but she felt better. However, she did not want another encounter with Mr. Grey. While holding the door open, she carefully looked up and down both corridors to see if anyone was about. Clear. Tiptoeing, she went down the carpeted hall to her desk and, as silently as possible, removed her coat from the back of the chair and her purse from the drawer. As she was on her way out, she stopped by Miss Jameson's desk to get notes from her drawer. This way she'd have work to fill her time over Christmas.

"Snooping again?"

Anastasia paused with her hand on the drawer handle; she didn't have to look up to know who it was. Mister CEO himself, Christian Trevelyan-Grey. Had she not had so much to drink, she would have politely excused herself, but since she was sure she was going to be fired anyway, what did it matter? "Sorry about your office. I was sure you'd be out proposing marriage to someone."

With all the haughtiness she could muster, she tried to march past him.

"You don't like me much, do you?"

Turning, she looked him in the eyes; those gray heavily fringed eyes that made all the women in the office melt with desire. But, at the moment, they didn't do much for Ana since she kept seeing the tears of the women who'd been jilted by him. "I've typed your last three prenuptial agreements. I know the truth about what you're like."

He looked confused. "But I thought Miss Parker…"

"And risk breaking those nails on a keyboard? Please, not likely." With that, Ana swept past him on her way to the elevator.

But Christian caught her arm.

For a moment fear ran through her. What did she really know about this man? And they were alone on this floor. If she screamed, no one would hear her.

At her look, his face stiffened and he released her arm. "Ms. Steele, I can assure you that I have no intention of harming you in any way."

"How do you know my name?"

Smiling, he looked at her. "While you were gone, I made a few calls about you."

"You were spying on me?" she asked.

"Just curious. As you were in my office."

Ana took another step toward the elevator, but again he caught her arm.

"Wait, Ms. Steele, I want to offer you a job over Christmas."

Ana punched the elevator button with a vengeance while he stood too close, looking down at her. "And what would that job be? Marriage to you?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," he answered as he looked from her eyes to her toes and back up again.

Ana hit the elevator button so hard it was a wonder the button didn't break.

"Ms. Steele, I am not making a pass at you. I am offering you a job. A legitimate job for which you will be paid, and paid well."

Ana kept hitting the button and looking up at the floors shown over both doors. Both elevators were stuck on the floor where the party was.

"In the calls I made I discovered that you've worked the last two Christmases when no one else would. I also found out that you are the 'Ice Maiden' of the office. You once stapled a man's tie to your desk when he was leaning over you asking for a date."

Ana turned red, but she didn't look at him.

"Ms. Steele," he said stiffly, as though what he said were very difficult for him. "Whatever may be your opinion of me, you could not have heard that I've ever made an improper advance toward a woman who works for me. My offer is for a job, an unusual job, but nothing else. I apologize for whatever I've done to give you the impression that I was offering more." With that he turned and walked away.

As Ana watched, one elevator went straight from the twelfth floor down to the first, skipping her on nine. Reluctantly, she turned to look at his retreating back. Suddenly, the image of her empty house appeared before her eyes, the tiny tree with not much under it. Whatever she thought of how he treated women in his personal life, Mr. Grey was always respectful to his employees. And no matter how hard a woman worked to compromise him, he didn't fall for it. Two years ago when an assistant said he'd made a pass at her, everyone laughed at her so hard, she found another job three weeks later.

Taking a deep breath, Ana followed him. "All right," she said when she was just behind him, "I'll listen."

Ten minutes later she was ensconced in Mr. Grey's beautiful office; a fire burned in the fireplace, making a delightful rosy glow on the table that was loaded with delicious food and what seemed to be a limitless supply of cold champagne. At first Ana had thought of resisting such temptation, but then she thought of telling Kate that she'd eaten lobster and champagne with the boss and she began to nibble.

While Ana ate and drank, Mr. Grey started to talk. "I guess you've heard by now about Susanna."

"The redhead?"

"Mmmm, yes, the redhead." He refilled her glass. "On the twenty-fourth of December, two days from now, Susanna and I were to be in the wedding of a good friend of mine who lives in Virginia. It's to be a huge wedding, with over six hundred guests flying in from all over the world."

For a moment he just looked at her, saying nothing. "And?" she asked after a while. "What do you need me for? To type your friend's prenup?"

Christian spread a cracker with pate de foie gras and held it out to her. "I no longer have a fiancée."

Ana took a drink of the champagne, and then reached for the cracker. "Excuse my ignorance, but I don't see what that has to do with me."

"You will fit the dress."

Maybe it was because her mind was a bit fuzzy with alcohol, but it took her a moment to comprehend, and when she did, she laughed. "You want me to pose as your fiancée and be a bridesmaid of some woman I've never met? And who has never met me?"

"Exactly."

"How many bottles of this have you drunk?"

Christian smiled. "I'm not drunk and I'm absolutely serious. Want to hear more?"

Part of Ana's brain said that she should go home; get away from this crazy man, but what was waiting for her at home? She didn't even have a cat that needed her. "I'm listening."

"I don't know if you've heard, but three years ago I was…" He hesitated and she saw his eyelashes flutter quite attractively. "Three years ago I was left at the altar of my own wedding by the woman I planned to spend the rest of my life with."

Ana drained her glass. "Did she find out that you were refusing to say the lines 'with thee my worldly goods I share'?"

For a moment Christian sat there and stared, he then smiled in a way that could only be called dazzling. Ana had to blink; he really was gorgeous, with his curly reddish blonde hair and gray eyes and a hint of a dimple in one cheek. No wonder so many women fell for him. "I think, Ms. Steele that you and I are going to get along fine."

That brought Ana up short. She was going to have to establish boundaries now. "No, I don't think we will, since I do not believe your tragic little-boy-lost story. I have no idea what really happened at your wedding or all those other times women refused to marry you, but I can assure you I am not one of these lovesick assistants who think you were 'Charming.' I think you were…" She halted before she said too much.

Enlightenment lit his face. "You think I was 'Charming.' Or do you think I am a 'Cantankerous?" Well, well, so now at last I know who the office wordsmith is."

Ana couldn't speak because she was too embarrassed…and how the hell had he found this out so quickly?

For a moment longer he looked at her in speculation, and then his face changed from feel-sorry-for-me to that of one friend talking to another. "What happened back then is between Leila and me and will remain between us, but the truth is, the groom is her relative and she is going to be at the wedding. If I show up alone, with yet another fiancée having left me, it will be, to put it kindly, embarrassing. And then there is the matter of the wedding. If there are seven male attendants and only six female, women get a bit out-of-sorts about things like that."

"So hire someone from an escort service. Hire an actress."

"I thought of that, but who knows what you get? She could be an unknown or she could turn out to know half the men there in a way that could be awkward."

"Surely, Mr. Grey, you must have a little black book full of names of women who would love to go anywhere with you and do anything."

"That's just the problem. They are all women who…well, they like me and after this…well…"

"I see. How do you get rid of them? You could always ask them to marry you. That seems to cure every woman of you forever."

"See? You're perfect for this. All anyone has to do is see the way you look at me and they'll know we're about to separate. Next week when I announce our split, no one will be surprised."

"What's in it for me?"

"I'll pay you whatever you like."

"One of the engagement rings you give out by the gross?" She knew she was being rude, but the champagne was giving her courage and with every discourteous thing she said to him, his eyes twinkled more.

"Ouch! Is that what people say about me?"

"Don't try your sad-little-boy act on me. I typed those prenuptial agreements, remember? I know what you are really like."

"And that is?"

"Incapable of trust, maybe incapable of love. You like the idea of marriage, but actually sharing yourself, and above all sharing your money, with another human, terrifies you. In fact, as far as I can tell, you don't share anything with anyone."

For a moment, he gaped at her, and then he smiled. "You certainly have me in a nutshell, but cold hearted as I am it still embarrassed me that Leila left me so publicly. That wedding cost me thirty-two thousand dollars, none of which was refundable, and I had to send the gifts back."

Refusing to give in to his play for sympathy, she repeated, "What's in it for me? I don't want money. I have money of my own."

"Yes. Fifty-two thousand and thirty-eight cents, to be exact."

Ana nearly choked on her champagne. "How…?"

My family owns the bank in this building. I took a guess that it might be the bank you use, so I did a preliminary background check after you left my office."

"More spying!"

"More curiosity. I was checking to see who you were. I am offering you legitimate employment, and since this is a very personal job, I wanted to know more about you. Besides, I like to know more about a woman than just the package." Taking a sip from his champagne glass, he looked at her the way a dark, romantic hero looks at a helpless damsel.

But Ana wasn't affected. She'd had other men look at her like that, and she'd had one man look at her in love. The difference between the two was everything. "I can see why women say yes to you," she said coolly, lifting her glass to him.

At her detachment, he gave a genuine smile. "All right, I can see that you're not impressed by me, so, now shall we talk business, Ms. Steele? I want to hire you as my escort for three days. Since I am at your mercy, you can name your price."

Ana drained her glass. What was this, her sixth? Whatever the number, all she could feel was liquid courage running through her veins. "If I were to do this, I wouldn't want money."

"Ah, I see. What do you want then? A promotion? To be made manager? Maybe you'd like a vice presidency?"

"And sit in a windowed office doing nothing all day? No, absolutely not."

Christian blinked at her words, and then waited for her to say more. When she was silent, he said, "You want stock in the company? No?" When she still said nothing, he leaned back in his chair and looked at her in speculation. "You want something money can't buy, don't you?"

"Yes," she said softly.

He looked at her for a long moment. "Am I to figure out what money can't buy? Happiness?"

Ana shook her head.

"Love? Surely you don't want love from someone like me?" His face showed his bafflement. "I'm afraid you have me stumped."

"A baby."

At that Christian spilled champagne down the front of his shirt. As he mopped himself up, he looked at her with eyes full of interest. "Oh, Ms. Steele, I like this much better than parting with my money." As he reached for her hand, she grabbed a sharp little fish knife.

"Don't touch me."

Leaning back, Christian refilled both their glasses. "Would you be so kind as to inform me how I'm to give you a baby without touching you?"

"In a jar."

"Ah, I see, you want artificial insemination." His voice lowered and his eyes grew sympathetic. "Are your eggs…?"

"My eggs are perfectly all right, thank you," she snapped. "I don't want to put my eggs in a jar, but I want to put you're…you know…in a jar."

"Yes, now I understand." Looking at her, he sipped his drink. "What I don't understand is, why me? I mean, since you don't like me or exactly think I'm of good moral character, why would you want me to be the father of your child?"

"Two reasons. The alternative is going to a clinic, where I can choose a man from the clinic's data base. Maybe he's healthy but what about his relatives? Whatever I may think of you, your family is very nice and, according to the local papers, has been nice for generations. And I know what you and your relatives look like."

"I'm not the only one who has been snooping. And the second reason?"

"If I have your child…in a manner of speaking…later you won't come to me asking me for money."

It was as though this statement were too outlandish for Christian to comprehend, because for a moment he sat there blinking in consternation. Then he laughed a deep rumbling sound that came from inside his chest. "Ms. Steele, I do believe we are going to get along splendidly." He extended his right hand. "All right, we have a bargain."

For just a moment Ana allowed her hand to be enveloped in his large warm one, and she allowed her eyes to meet his and to see the way they crinkled into a smile.

Abruptly, she pulled away from his touch. "Where and when?" she asked.

"My driver, Taylor, will pick you up at six a.m. tomorrow, and we'll leave on my company jet to New York."

"I thought your friend lived in Virginia," she said suspiciously.

"He does, but I thought we'd go to New York first and outfit you," he said bluntly, sounding as though she were a naked native he, the great white hunter, had found.

For a moment Ana hid her face behind the champagne glass so he wouldn't see her expression. "Ah, yes, I see. Based on what I've seen, you like your fiancées' to be model perfect."

"Doesn't every man?"

"Only men who can't see beneath the surface."

"Ouch!"

Ana blushed. "I apologize. If I am to pretend to be your fiancée, I will try to curb my tongue." She gave him a hard look. "I won't have to play the doting, adoring female, will I?"

"Since no other woman to whom I have been engaged has, I see no reason you should. Have some more champagne, Ms. Steele."

"No, thank you," Ana said, standing, then working hard not to wobble on her feet. Champagne, firelight, and a dark-haired, hot-eyed man were not conducive to making a woman remember her vows of chastity. "I will see you at the airport tomorrow, but, please, there'll be no need to stop in New York." When he started to say something, she smiled. "Trust me."

"All right," he said, raising his glass. "To tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 _When he started to say something, she smiled. "Trust me."_

 _"_ _All right," he said, raising his glass. "To tomorrow."_

 ** _Chapter 4_**

With her thoughts raging a mile a minute on everything that needed to be accomplished, Ana left the room, gathered her things, and took the elevator downstairs. Since she didn't feel steady enough to drive, she opened her Uber app to request a ride to take her to a small shopping mall near Pike Place Market.

"Franco?" Ana asked tentatively as she saw a man locking the door of the beauty salon. Looking at Franco's hair, Ana couldn't decide if it had been dyed a dark magenta or purple. Whatever, it was an extraordinary shade.

"Yes?" he asked, turning, looking at Ana with no recognition in his eyes.

"You don't remember me?"

For a moment Franco looked puzzled, and then his fine dark skin crinkled in pleasure. "Anastasia? Could that be you under that…that…?"

"Hair," Ana supplied.

"Maybe you call it hair but not from where I'm standing. And look at your face! Did you take vows? Is that why it's so shiny, clean and pale?"

Ana laughed. Two years ago, one of her few luxuries had been having Franco do her hair and give her advice on makeup and nails, and pretty much anything else in life. For all that Franco was an excellent hairdresser; he was also like a therapist to his clients…and as discreet as though he'd taken an oath. A woman knew she could tell Franco anything and it would go no further.

"Could you do my hair?" Ana asked shyly.

"Sure. Call in the morning and…"

"No, now. I have to leave on a plane early in the morning."

Franco didn't put up with such nonsense. "I have a hungry boyfriend waiting at home, and I've been on my feet for nine hours. You should have come earlier."

"Could I bribe you with a story? A very, very good story?"

Franco looked skeptical. "How good a story?"

"You know my gorgeous boss? Christian Grey? I'm probably going to have his baby and he's never touched me…nor is he going to."

Franco didn't miss a beat as he shoved the key back into the lock. "I predict that that hair of yours is going to take half the night."

"What about your boyfriend?"

"Honey, let him open his own cans."

 _The next morning..._

Ana settled back in the luxurious and spacious seats aboard the GEH private jet and sipped her glass of orange juice. Beside her, Christian Grey, had his laptop open and was going over some paperwork he brought with him from the office. Early this morning when she'd arrived at the airport, she was escorted to a private lounge that she'd had no idea existed at Sea-Tac Airport.

Unobtrusively, she'd taken a chair across from him, and he hadn't bothered to greet her or even look at her. Ten minutes later, he'd glanced up; lost in thought, then back down at his papers. Ana then had the great satisfaction of seeing him pause and look back at her…a long, slow look that went from her head to her toes then back up again.

"You are Ms. Anastasia Steele, aren't you?" he asked, making her smile, and making her sure that the three hours at Franco's with her head covered in foil, her face slathered in mud, then another three hours at home trying on everything in her closet, had been worth it.

He told her he had to work on the trip to Virginia, and then looked back down at his papers, but several times he glanced at Ana. All in all, she found those looks quite gratifying.

Now, on the plane, she sat beside him, sipping orange juice and growing more bored by the minute. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked, nodding toward his papers and laptop.

He smiled at her in that way men do when they think a woman is pretty but had somehow managed to be born without a brain. "If you'd have brought your own laptop, you could type for me, but actually, no, I have nothing for you to do. I just have some decisions to make."

Ah, yes, she thought, Men's Work. "Such as?" she urged.

A slight frown crossed his handsome brow. Obviously he liked his women to remain silent. "Just buying and selling," he answered quickly, in a tone that was meant to make her stop asking questions.

"And exactly what are you considering buying or selling this morning?"

The small frown changed to one that made his brows meet in the middle over the bridge of his nose. Love is such a funny thing, she thought. Had Jose looked at her like that, she would have backed off immediately, but this man did not frighten her a bit.

When he saw that she wasn't going to stop questioning him, he snapped, "I'm thinking of purchasing a small publishing company," then looked back at his papers.

"Ah," she said. "Seattle Independent Press…bad covers and mostly reprints. A few good books on regional history, but the covers were so bad no one bought the books."

Christian looked at her as though she should mind her own business. "If I decide to buy it, I'll hire a new art director who can design good covers."

"Can't…it won't work…the publisher is sleeping with her."

Christian had just put his glass of orange juice to his lips and at Ana's words he nearly choked. "What?"

"I was curious, so when the publisher's assistant came to deliver the financial sheets to you I asked her to have lunch with me. She told me that the publisher, Mr. Roach…who is married and has three children…has been having a long term affair with the art director. If he fires her, she'll blab to his wife…whose family owns the publishing house. It's a very sticky situation."

Christian blinked at her. "So what do you recommend?" he asked with great sarcasm.

"Buy the house and put some competent people in there, then consolidate several of the small history books into one fat one and sell it as a textbook on Seattle history to the schools. There's a great deal of money to be made in textbooks."

For a long moment Christian just looked at her. "And you found out all this because you were curious, right?"

Turning away, Ana looked out the window and knew she'd never missed Jose more than she did in that moment. Jose used to listen to her; he liked her ideas and her input. Unfortunately, she'd found that most men's minds were as closed as this man's.

It wasn't until the plane had taken off and they were cruising that he spoke to her again. "What other things have you looked into?" he asked softly. "Jet engines? Sewage plants? Road building equipment?"

She knew he was being a jackass, but at the same time, she could hear that he actually wanted to know. "I'm only interested in the small things, especially the local Seattle places."

"Such as?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Clayton's Department Store," she answered quickly.

At that he smiled indulgently. "That place is an eyesore to downtown Seattle. I already have an excellent offer from Marakesh Gold and Leather."

"Those stores that sell leather and chains?" she asked with a curled lip.

"More like leather and rhinestones." Leaning back in the seat, he looked at her in speculation. "Who would you sell it to?" When she didn't answer, he gave her a little smile. "Come on; don't chicken out on me now. If you're going to tell me how to run my business, don't stop after one suggestion."

"All right," she said defiantly. "I'd open a store that sells baby paraphernalia." At that she expected him to turn away in disgust, but he didn't. He just sat there, patiently waiting for her to continue.

She took a deep breath. "In Europe they have stores called Mothercare that sell everything for babies: maternity wear, strollers, nursery furniture, diapers, and the works. In America you have to go to different stores for different items, and when you're eight-months pregnant and your feet are swollen and you have two other kids, it's not easy going to five different stores trying to get what you need for the baby. I don't know from experience, but it seems that it would be a wonderful convenience to be able to buy everything from one store."

"And what would you call this store?" he asked quietly.

"Nirvana?" she answered innocently, making him laugh.

Christian took a piece of paper and a pen from his briefcase and handed it to her. "Here. Write down all you know or think about Seattle Independent Press. All of it, gossip….everything. I want to know how I can make that place a better publishing house."

Ana used all her strength to keep from smiling, but it was no use. She had a feeling he'd never before asked a woman her opinion of what he should buy or sell. Grey Enterprise Holdings is a billion dollar company and Mr. Grey had a few women executives, but everyone knew that Christian Grey was a law unto himself. He infuriated people in his employ by his stubborn insistence on doing things his own way. It further infuriated them that he was pretty much always right.

But now he was asking her opinion! "Yes, Sir," Ana said mockingly as she started to write, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see just a bit of a smile playing about his lips.


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 ** _AN: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. This story is like a rose slowly opening up and ALL will be revealed throughout the chapters and we will finally find out Christians motives in the Epilogue._**

 ** _Ask and you shall receive…..Back to our story… "Never Give Up on Love"..._**

 _"_ _Yes, Sir," Ana said mockingly as she started to write, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see just a bit of a smile playing about his lips…_

 ** _Chapter 5_**

If Ana thought she was going to get any warmth out of Mr. Grey, the notion was short-lived, for the entire time during the flight he didn't have his nose buried in papers and he was on the telephone. He ate with one hand, papers in the other. When they landed at Dulles Airport, outside D.C., he handed her three one-hundred-dollar bills, said, "Green hanging," then nodded toward the baggage carousel. Ana was tempted to give the porter one bill as a tip, but instead, she paid the five dollars out of her own pocket, then tried to find Mr. Grey. He found her, car keys in his hand, and quickly, they went outside into the crisp, cold air to the car.

Once inside the warmth of the car, it felt almost intimate to be alone with him and she looked about for something to say. "If I'm to pretend to be your fiancée, shouldn't I know something about you?"

"What do you want to know?" he asked in a way that made Ana give him a look of disgust.

"Nothing really. I'm sure that knowing you are rich is enough for any woman."

Ana had expected the jab to make him laugh or respond sarcastically, but it didn't. Instead, he just looked straight ahead, his brow creased in concentration. For the rest of the drive, Ana didn't bother to talk. She decided if anyone asked why she was planning to marry Christian Grey, she'd say, "Alimony."

He drove them through the highways of Virginia to Alexandria, then through wooded countryside, past beautiful houses until he reached a graveled road and made a sharp right. Minutes later a house came into view and it was the place where all little girls dreamed of spending Christmas: three stories, tall pillars in front, perfectly spaced windows. She half expects George and Martha Washington to greet them.

The front lawn and what she could see of the rolling gardens in the back were alive with people playing touch football, gathering armloads of wood, or just strolling. And there seemed to be children everywhere.

The moment the car was spotted, what seemed to be a herd of people descended on them, opening the door and pulling Ana out. They introduced themselves as Karrie, Debbie, Link, David and…there was just too many people.

One very good looking man grabbed her and kissed her soundly on the mouth. "Oh!" was all Ana could say as she stared at him.

"I'm Sean," he offered in explanation. "The bridegroom? Didn't Christian tell you about me?"

Ana didn't think about what she was saying. "Christian never speaks to me unless he wants something," she blurted, then stared wide-eyed. These people were his friends, what would they think of her!?

To Ana's consternation, they burst into laughter.

"Christian, at last you found a woman who knows the true you," Sean yelled across the roof of the car as he put one arm around Ana's shoulders, then a pretty woman put another arm around her, and they led her into the house, all of them laughing.

They led her past heavenly rooms with huge fireplaces that blazed cheerfully, then up a grand staircase, down two halls to a wide white door. Sean opened it. "He's all yours," he said, laughing, then pushed her inside and closed the door behind her.

Christian was in the room, their suitcases were already placed on luggage racks, and there was only one bed. "There's been a mistake," Ana said.

Christian frowned down at the bed. "I've already tried to rectify this, but it's impossible. The house is full. Every bed, cot, and couch is already assigned. Look," he said, frowning, "if you're afraid I'm going to attack you in the night, I can see if a hotel room can be found for you."

There was something about his attitude that always seemed to rub her the wrong way. "At least with a full house if I scream, I'll be heard."

He gave her a little half-smile then started unbuttoning his shirt. "I need to take a shower. The wedding rehearsal is in an hour." He was looking at her as though he expected her to flee the room in fear at the very thought of a man undressing. But she wasn't going to let him intimidate her. "Please don't steam up the mirror," she said, chin in the air, then turned away as though sharing a room with a strange man was of no consequence to her.

With a bit of a chuckle, he went into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar for the steam to escape.

When he was out of sight, Ana let her breath escape and her shoulders relax. The room was lovely, all green silk and Federal furniture, and as she heard the shower running, she happily unpacked suitcases. It wasn't until she was finished that she realized that, out of habit, she'd unpacked Christian's case too. As she put his shoes in the closet next to hers, Ana almost burst into tears. It had been so long since a man's shoes had been next to her own.

When she turned, Christian was standing there, his hair wet, his big body encased in a terry-cloth robe, and he was watching her.

"I…I didn't mean to unpack your case, but…habit," she finally managed to say before escaping into the bathroom and firmly closing the door behind her.

She took as long as she dared in the bathroom and was very pleased to see that he was gone when she reentered the room. After dressing as quickly as she could, she left the bedroom and ran down the stairs to join the rest of the wedding party, who were piling into cars headed to the church for the rehearsal.

All the way to the church, her annoyance toward Christina built. If she was supposed to be his fiancée, shouldn't he be showing her some consideration? Instead, he dropped her at the front door and expected her to find her own way among strangers. No wonder so many women refused to marry him, she thought. They were all obviously women of sense and intelligence.

At the church the rehearsal went off smoothly until at the end, when Christian was to be the first to start down the aisle. He was to walk to the center, offer his arm to Ana, then walk with her out of the church. Maybe he hadn't heard what was said, but whatever his excuse, he walked to the center of the aisle, and then started down alone, without Ana.

It was too much for her. "You know how Christian is," she said, "he thinks he can partner himself."

Everyone in the church burst into laughter, and Christian, turning, saw his mistake. With a great show of gallantry, he returned, bowed, and offered his arm to Ana.

"Getting me back for all those weekends at the office?" he said under his breath.

"Getting you back for all those women who were too timid to stand up to you," she said, smiling wickedly.

"I am not the monster you think I am."

"I shall ask Leila's opinion on that. By the way, when is she coming?"

From the look on his face as they reached the back of the church, Ana regretted her remark.

"Christmas Day," he said softly, and then turned away from her.

The rehearsal dinner was loud, with everyone talking at once about summers they had spent together and places they had visited. At first Ana looked at her food and listened but didn't participate in the conversation among these people who knew each other so well. Christian sat on the other side of the big table, at the opposite end from her, and he, too was quiet. Every once in a while, Ana glanced toward him and thought she saw him looking at her, but he turned away so quickly that she wasn't sure.

"Ana," one of the women said and the whole table quietened. "Where is your engagement ring?"

She didn't hesitate before she spoke. "Christian had bought all the store had, so they're awaiting a new shipment of diamonds. He buys them by the dozen, you know."

The windows of the restaurant nearly exploded with the laughter of the dinners, and even Christian laughed as Sean, next to him, slapped him on the back.

There were calls of, "I think you ought to keep this one, Christian," and, "It looks as though your taste in women is improving."

For the rest of the meal, Ana wasn't allowed to sit in silence. The two women across from her asked many questions about what she did and where she'd grown up and all the normal questions that people ask. When she told them that Christian was her boss, they were fascinated and wanted to know what it was like working for him.

"Lonely," she answered. "He doesn't need any of us, except to type a letter now and then."

Through all of this, Christian ate his dinner without saying a word, but Ana could feel his eyes on her and even when Sean leaned forward to say something to him, Christian's eyes never left Ana's face.

It wasn't until they were alone in "their" room that Ana thought maybe she'd gone a little too far. "About tonight…" she began as he walked past her out of the bathroom. "Maybe I shouldn't have…"

"Going to chicken out on me now?" he asked, his face very close to hers.

Inconsequentially, Ana thought, he has a beautiful mouth. But she recovered herself and stood up straight. "No, of course not."

"Good. Now, what did you do with my sweatpants?"

"Isn't it a little late for sports?" she said without thinking, not that it was any of her business what he did when.

Christian gave her a one-sided smile. "Unless you want me sleeping naked, they're the only alternative."

"Third drawer left, "she said as she scurried into the bathroom. When she emerged, swathed in a white cotton nightgown, he was already in bed, and there was a long, thick pillow down the center of the bed. Slipping into the vacant side of the bed, she said, "Where did you get this?"

"Stole it."

"So I guess some poor unfortunate person is sleeping on a couch without a back cushion?"

"Want me to take it back? You could sleep snuggled up with me or, better yet, we could have a serious discussion about this jar that you want me to…"

"Good night," she said firmly, and then turned on her side away from him, but she was smiling as she fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: Thank you for all your reviews…Sorry about the delayed update…but here's a long chapter to make up for my absence.**

 **Disclaimer: As always…I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 ** _Back to our story… "Never Give Up on Love"..._**

 _"_ _Good night," she said firmly, and then turned on her side away from him, but she was smiling as she fell asleep…_

 ** _Chapter 6_**

Ana awoke to the sight of a gorgeous man wearing only a thick white towel about his waist, standing before the bathroom mirror shaving. In those few minutes before she awoke fully and remembered where she was, she had a vision of him coming toward her, kissing her, then tossing the towel aside and climbing into bed with her. For just those few seconds she could remember clearly how it felt to have a man in her arms, the size of him, the warmth of his skin, the weight of him, the…

"Want to share that thought?" he asked, not turning his head but looking at her in the mirror.

Turning away so he couldn't see her red face, she rolled out of bed, grabbed her robe, and moved toward the closet, out of his line of vision.

"What do you have planned for today?" he asked, coming out of the bathroom, still wearing only that tiny towel and wiping excess shaving cream from his face.

Ana flung open a closet door so she couldn't see him. Did he work out every day? He must to keep his body looking like that. Was that gorgeous tan his natural skin color? "Shopping," she mumbled.

"Shopping?" he asked, moving around the door to the other side of her. "As in Christmas shopping?"

Studiously looking at the clothes hanging inside, yet seeing nothing. "Yes, Christmas shopping and a wedding gift." She took a deep breath. She had to get hold of herself! Turning, she looked into his eyes…and…not one inch lower. "Tomorrow is Christmas and if I'm to spend it with these people, I can't very well turn up empty-handed. Do you know a good shopping mall around here?"

Tysons Corner," he said quickly. "One of the best in the country and I need to buy gifts, too, so I'll go with you."

"No!" Ana blurted, then tried to recover herself. "I mean, I concentrate better when I'm by myself." Even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. Christmas shopping alone became a chore.

"How will you know who to buy for? Even how many kids are here? I assume you want to buy for the kids."

"Write down all the names for me and I'll get everything." She did not want to spend the day with this man…and it was getting very difficult to keep her eyes off his wonderful body.

"No that won't work…that would make it too complicated" he said, smiling. "Everything is in my head."

Ana almost smiled back at him. "You can just tell me all the information. Besides, wouldn't you rather stay here and play football with the other guys?"

"I am an out-of-shape CEO who sits behind a desk…they'd cream me."

At that Ana did laugh, for there was no one who was less out of shape than he was.

Without waiting for her to say yes, he grabbed a terrycloth robe from the closet, put it on, then kissed her cheek. "Pick me out some clothes, would you? I have to make some calls. I'll be back for you in thirty minutes."

Before Ana could protest, he was out of the room, with the door closing behind him. Of course, she thought, feminists everywhere would shudder at the notion of her choosing the clothing of an arrogant, presumptuous man like Christian Grey. But by the time she'd completed this thought, she had draped a pair of dark jeans, an Italian shirt, and a heavenly English sweater across the bed. Shaking her head in disgust at herself, she went into the bathroom.

An hour later, after a quick breakfast, she and Christian were walking to their car, and on the lawn were the bridegroom and other men playing ball. Sean shouted to Christian, asking him to come play football with them.

"She's forcing me to go shopping with her," he yelled back.

"Yeah, right!" Ana called to them over the roof of the car. "Like I really need a man to go shopping with me. Truth is, he's afraid to stay here because you might hurt him."

Ignoring the laughter of the men, Christian shouted, "What do you want us to get you for a wedding gift?"

"From you, Christian…a Lamborghini," Sean called. "But from her, I'll take anything she offers."

"I'll second that," one of the other men called, then they all laughed in a very complimentary way.

Feeling quite flattered, Ana smiled brilliantly at all the young men playing touch football and she smiled even more brightly when she saw that Christian was frowning. "What a very nice group of people," she said as she got into the car.

Christian, his body twisted as he looked out the back window while he drove the car out in reverse, maneuvering it around the many other vehicles in the drive, didn't answer her.

Maybe it was because of the men's flirting with her and Christian's silence, but by the time they arrived at the beautiful Tysons Corner Mall, Ana was in very good spirits.

"Where do we begin?" she asked as soon as they'd entered the center of the mall. Looking up at him, she saw that male shrug that meant that she was in charge. "Elephant time," she muttered.

"I beg your pardon," he said stiffly.

"It's what I used to say when I was with Jose and we went shopping together. He'd refuse to participate in deciding what to buy anyone, but he'd carry anything I handed him. I called him my elephant."

For a moment Christian seemed to consider this, then he solemnly lifted his right arm, clenched his fist, and made his biceps bulge through his sweater. "I can carry anything you can pack onto me."

Ana laughed. "We shall see about that. By the way, if as you said, 'we' are giving gifts, who's paying for these things?"

"Me?" he said with a mock sigh, as though he'd always paid for everything she'd ever bought.

"Perfect," she said over her shoulder as she took a left and headed for Nordstrom's. "Your money, my taste."

"Just give me a peanut now and then and I'll be fine," he said from behind her.

Three hours later, Ana was exhausted but exhilarated. She'd completely forgotten what it was like to shop with a man. He never wanted to take the time to consider which of any two purchases' was better. "This one," he'd say, or "What does it matter?" and when it came to gift suggestions, he could rarely think past the Apple store. Twice she had him sit on benches, surrounded by shopping bags, while she went into stores and purchased sets of soaps and lotions, and some fruit and cheese baskets. She almost couldn't get him out of Smart Toys, where he purchased a huge 3-D puzzle of the Empire State Building. And they visited all seven toy stores and made purchases from each one, so many purchases in fact that Ana suspected that they'd bought more toys than there were children.

"Does lunch come with this trip?" he asked after they'd visited the very last toy store the mall had to offer.

"Are you sure you want to eat? I think there were still plenty of UCS and Midi Scale Legos left at the last store. Maybe you should go back and get them."

"Food, woman!" he growled, leading the way to Brio Tuscan Grille, where they got a table and where Christian could put all the bags, for he wouldn't allow Ana to carry anything.

"You're a good elephant," she said as soon as they were seated, smiling at him.

After they were situated, he looked at her. "What plans have you made for Clayton's Department Store?"

Ana was in too good a mood to lie. "You don't have to patronize me. You don't have to listen to my childish ideas. For all that this has been great fun today; you and I both know that as soon as we get back to Seattle, it will end. You're the boss and I'm just an administrative assistant."

"Just an assistant, are you?" he said, one eyebrow raised as he reached down the neck of his sweater to his shirt pocket and pulled out several folded fax sheets. "Jose Rodriquez and his cousin Ethan Kavanagh owned Kavanagh's Hardware Store for four years. You and your fiancé were everything to that store. Ethan Kavanagh was a slacker."

As Ana looked at him in astonishment, he continued.

"After you two were engaged, Jose and you worked part time jobs, while you both were still in college. You two saved every penny you had and bought half a share in Kavanagh's Hardware when Ethan was looking for more cash to put into the business. Jose and you turned the place around. Jose knew about retail sales and you knew everything else. You wrote ads that made people come to the store and you handled the money, telling Jose how much you could and could not afford. It was your idea to add the little garden center and bring in women customers, and that was the most profitable part of the store. After Jose died you found out that the only way Ethan had originally been willing to sell to him was on the condition that on Jose's death he could buy you out for fifty grand."

"It was fair at the time the deal was made," Ana said defensively, as though he were saying that Jose had made a bad contract deal.

"Yes, at the time of purchase, half a share was only worth thirty thousand, but by the time he'd died, you and Jose had built up the business so a half share was worth a great deal more than fifty grand."

"I could have stayed as a partner," Ana said softly.

"If you shared Ethan Kavanagh's bed."

"You do snoop, don't you?"

"Just curious," he said, eyes twinkling at her as their food was set before them. After the waitress left, he said, "You want to tell me about your ideas for this store for mothers?"

"I haven't really thought about it, just some ideas here and there," she said, playing with the straw in her glass of iced tea.

At that Christian gave a little snort of laughter and pushed a pen and a napkin toward her. "If you had unlimited money and owned Clayton's Department Store, what would you do with it?"

Ana hesitated but not for long. Truth was, she had thought about this for quite some time. "I'd put a children's play area in the center so mothers could watch their children at all times. If a mother is to be there a while, I'd put a tracker on the kids. You know, like clothing in department stores, so if the children wander outside the play area or someone tries to take them, bells go off as they exit the store."

Christian said nothing but his eyebrows were raised in question.

"They put tags on clothing so people can't steal them and children are a great deal more important than shirts, aren't they? How can a woman try on clothes in comfort with a four-year-old screaming at her?"

After taking a bite of her food, she continued. "Surrounding the play area I'd have different departments: Maternity wear, furniture, layettes, books on the various aspects of raising children, all the visual things. I'd also have clerks who were extremely experienced and your average size."

Christian smiled patronizingly at that.

"No, really. My best friend just had a baby, and she was constantly complaining about anorexic sales girls who looked at her with pity every time she asked if they had something in a larger size. I'd also have trained bra fitters and I'd have free brochures of local organizations the women could contact if they needed help or information, such as La Leche League. Of course we'd have contact with a local obstetrician in case of mishaps in the store. And…"

She broke off as she glanced at his face. He was laughing at her!

"Haven't thought about it much, have you?"

She smiled. "Well, maybe just a bit."

"Where are your financials? Don't you dare tell me you haven't worked out to the penny how much opening a store like this would cost."

Ana took a few bites. "I've done a bit of number crunching."

"When we get back to Seattle, you can put them on my desk and I'll…" He broke off because Ana had removed a flash drive from her handbag. Taking it, he looked down at it and frowned. "When were you going to present me with this?"

She knew what he meant. He thought this was the real reason she'd agreed to this weekend. She was just one of the hundreds of people who tried to see him about or mail him their schemes for getting rich. Ana snatched the flash drive out of his hands. "I was never planning to show it to you or anyone else," she said through her teeth. "Millions of people have dreams in their heads and that's just where they stay…in their heads."

Angrily, she grabbed her purse and coat from beside her. "Excuse me, but I think this has all been a mistake. I think I'd better leave now."

Christian caught her arm and pulled her back down to the table. "I'm sorry. I apologize. Really, I am."

"Would you please release me?"

"No, because you'll run."

"Then I'll scream."

"No you won't. You allowed Ethan Kavanagh to rob you blind and you didn't scream then because you didn't want to make a scene for his family. You, Ana, are not the screaming type."

She looked at his big, tanned hand clasping her wrist. He was right; she was not a screamer…or much of a fighter. Maybe she needed someone standing behind her telling her she could do anything before she believed in herself.

Christian's hand moved so his fingers were intertwined with hers, and Ana made no attempt to pull away as he held her hand in his.

"Look, Ana, I know what you think of me, but it's not true. Have you ever told anyone else about your ideas for the baby store?"

"No," she said softly.

"But you must have been working on this idea since before Jose died. Did you tell him?"

"No." She and Jose had as much as they could handle with the hardware store. She'd never wanted to give him the idea that she wanted something different or even something more.

"Then I am honored by your confiding in me," Christian said, and when Ana gave him a look of suspicion, he said, "Really, I am." Pausing a moment, he looked down at their two hands intertwined. "All those prenuptial agreements were only to see if she would sign."

Ana looked at him in disbelief.

"Honest. If any of those women had signed, I'd have torn it up immediately. But all I ever heard was, 'Daddy doesn't think I should sign,' or, 'my lawyer advises me not to sign.' All I wanted was to be sure that the woman wanted me and not my family's wealth."

"Rather a hateful little trick, wasn't it?"

"Not as hateful as marrying me and then a few years later going through a divorce. What if we had kids?"

In spite of herself, Ana felt herself curling her fingers around his. What about Leila?"

"Leila was different," he said softly, then pulled his hand from hers.

As Ana opened her mouth to ask another question, he said, "Ready?" and the way he said it was a command.

Minutes later they were again in the mainstream of the mall, Christian moving ahead, loaded down with shopping bags. Behind him, thoughtful, Ana followed until she was pulled up short at the sight of a shop full of the most beautiful clothes for children she had ever seen. In the window was hanging a christening gown of fine cotton, hand-tucked, dripping soft cotton lace.

"Want to go in?" Christian said softly from over her head.

"No, of course not," Ana said sharply, turning away.

But Christian, already large, was made even larger by all the bags he was holding and he blocked her exit as he moved forward.

"Really, I don't want…" she began, but she stopped speaking as soon as she was inside the store. Never had she allowed herself to look at baby clothes as something for a child she might have. For others yes, but never for herself.

As though in a trance, she went toward the pretty dresses hanging on racks at eye level.

Christian, who had been relieved of his bags by a kind saleswoman, came up behind her. "Not those. The first Grey baby is always a boy."

"Nothing is ever 'always,'" Ana told him, taking down a white cotton dress hand-embroidered with pale pink and blue flowers.

"Here, this is much better," he said as he held up a red and blue striped shirt. "Good for playing football."

"I am not going to allow my son to play football," she told him, replacing the dress and looking at some white suits made for what could only be a little prince. "Football is much too dangerous."

"He's my son too and I say…"

It suddenly occurred to Ana what they were talking about, that they might have a baby together, but it wouldn't be theirs. Not in a real sense. It wouldn't be…before she could put together another thought; she ran from the store and was staring in the window of H&M when Christian found her.

"You mind if we sit awhile?" he asked, and all Ana could do was nod her head. Her embarrassment over what had happened in the baby store was still too fresh to allow her to speak.

He piled shopping bags around her, then he went to get the two of them ice cream cones, and for a while they sat in silence with their ice cream.

"Did Jose and you ever discuss having children?" he asked softly.

"We were young and thought we had all the time in the world…" she answered simply.

For a moment Christian was silent. "You must have loved him very much?"

"Yes, very, very much."

"He was a very lucky man," Christian said and reached out to take her hand. "I envy him."

For a moment Ana looked into his eyes, and for the first time since Jose's death she saw another man. Not Jose superimposed over another man's features, but she saw Christian Grey for himself. I could love again, she thought, and in that moment it was as though all the ice she had protectively put around her heart melted.

"Ana, I…" Christian began as he moved toward her as though he meant to kiss her right there in the middle of Tysons Corner Mall.

"My goodness!" Ana said. "Just look at the time…I have a hair appointment at K&I Salon for the wedding tonight, and I'm barely going to make it. It's here in the mall but on the next level, so I'd better run."

"When did you make an appointment?" he asked, sounding for all the world like a husband who couldn't believe she'd done anything without his knowledge.

"In between toy stores." She stood. "I have to go," she said, then started walking. "I'll meet you back here in two hours," she called over her shoulder, and then disappeared around the corner before he could say another word.

The truth was, she had half an hour before her appointment, but she wanted to get a Christmas gift for Christian. She wanted to get away from him. She could not possibly fall in love with a man like Christian Grey. "He's out of your league, Ana," she told herself. A man like him needed a woman whose father was the ambassador to some glamorous country, a woman who could identify one caviar from another, who could…could…

"Idiot!" she told herself. You are as bad as all the others, thinking you're in love with him. Or worse! Thinking he is in love with you.

By the time she met him two hours later, she had managed to calm herself and regain her equilibrium. She saw him sitting on the bench, looking very pleased with himself. "What have you done?" she asked suspiciously.

"Merely had everything wrapped and labeled, and now they are all in the car."

"I am impressed," she said, wide-eyed.

"Stop laughing at me and let's go," he said, taking her arm. "What did they use in your hair? Or did they give you a wig made out of wood?"

"It's lacquer and I think it looks great."

"Hmmm," was all he'd say as they hurried to the car.

Back at the house, everything was chaos as people scurried to get ready for the wedding. It seemed that nearly everyone had lost a vital piece of clothing and now was frantically trying to find it. When Christian closed the door to "their" bedroom, it was like a haven of calm, and when Ana came out of the bathroom, the bed was covered with boxes and a couple of hanging bags full of clothes.

"It all came while you were in the bathroom," he said, and when Ana started to comment that she'd heard no one enter, Christian scurried into the bathroom.

One box contained silk underwear, all of it white – lacy bra, teddy, and white stockings that ended mid-thigh in lacy elastic. Never before had she heard of wedding providing underwear along with the dress.

"You don't have time to examine everything," Christian said as he entered the room.

"But…"

"Get dressed!"

As she picked up the underwear, then the dress that must have been made of three hundred yards of chiffon, she looked at the narrow space in the bathroom and back at the voluminous skirt.

"I won't attack you if I see you in your underwear…but only if you make the same promise to me," Christian said, deadpan.

Ana started to protest but then smiled devilishly. "All right, you're on," she said as she took the white silk underwear and went into the bathroom. Moments later she emerged wearing makeup and her underwear and nothing else…and she knew that she looked great. She wasn't very large above the waist, but, as many people had told her, she had a fantastic body and excellent legs.

"Do you know where…" Christian said as he turned toward her, then Ana had the great, oh, the enormous, satisfaction of seeing all the color drain from his face as he stared at her.

"Do I know where what is?" she asked innocently.

But Christian couldn't say a word as he stood there, his hands frozen, one held outstretched, the other trying to fasten the cuff link on his shirt.

"Could I help you with that?" she asked, striding toward him as he stared at her speechlessly. As sweetly as she could, she fastened first one then the other of his cuff links, and then smiled up at him. "Anything else you need?"

When he didn't answer, she smiled again and started to walk away from him, knowing that the back view of her was just as good as or even better than the front. Thank you yoga, she thought.

But she had no more time for thought because Christian grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into his arms, then brought his lips down on hers. How could she have forgotten? She wondered. She'd nearly forgotten the deliciousness of a kiss.

He kissed her long and thoroughly, and his big hands caressed her body, pulling her close to him.

Had it not been for the loud knock on the door and the call, "Ready to leave for the church?" Ana wasn't sure what would have happened. Even so, she had to push her way out of his arms, and it was with great reluctance that she did so. Her heart was pounding and her breath was fast.

"We must get dressed," she managed to say while he silently stared at her. With shaking hands, she picked up her dress and tried to get it on over her head without messing up her hair. She wasn't surprised when Christian helped her pull the dress down over her body, and then zipped it up the back. It seemed natural to help him into the coat of his tuxedo.

It wasn't until they started to leave the room that he spoke. "I almost forgot to give you your bridesmaid gift." Out of his pocket he pulled a two-strand pearl necklace and an earring with long drop pearl.

"They're beautiful," Ana said. "The pearls almost look real."

"They do, don't they?" he said as he fished out the second earring, then he fastened the necklace on while she put on the earrings.

"Do I look okay?" she asked in earnest.

"No one will look at the bride."

It was a cliché, but the way he said it made her feel beautiful.

The wedding was enchanting. For all the chaos beforehand, everything went smoothly, and the reception was filled with laughter and champagne. Christian disappeared with a group of men he hadn't seen in years, and for a few moments Ana was alone at the table.

"Do you know how to dance?"

Ana looked up at Christian. "Wasn't that in your report about me? Or did your spies forget such unimportant things as dancing?"

With a laugh, he pulled her out of her chair and led her onto the dance floor. To say they danced splendidly together was an understatement.

Sean sailed by, his lovely bride, Hannah, in his arms, and told Christian he should keep "this one."

Christian smiled. "You know that no woman wants me for long."

After Sean had laughed and moved away, Ana frowned up at Christian. "Why don't you tell them the truth? Everyone blames you for all the breakups."

Christian pulled her closer into his arms. "Be careful, Ms. Steele, it almost sounds as though you're beginning to like me."

"Ha! All I want from you is…"

"A child," he said softly, "You want to have my child."

"Only because you're…"

"What am I? Intelligent? A prince among men?"

"You're a reverse prince. When a woman kisses you, you turn into a frog."

"I didn't with the first kiss. Want to try again?"

For a minute he looked down at her and she thought he was going to kiss her again. But he didn't and she knew that her disappointment showed on her face.

Hours later she once again found herself alone in a room with Christian. When she returned from the bathroom wearing her chaste white nightgown, he was standing by the window, his back to her, looking out into the night.

"The bathroom is yours," she said.

"I'm going out," he said firmly.

To her horror, Ana said, "Why?" then put her hand to her mouth. What he did was none of her business. Stiffening her body, she forced a smile. "Of course." She gave a great yawn. "See you in the morning."

Christian grabbed her shoulders. "Ana, it's not what you think."

"I have no right to think anything at all. You're free to do what you like."

Quickly, he pulled her to him, and held her tightly. "If I stay in this room tonight, I'll make love to you. I know I will. I won't be able to stop myself." Without giving her a chance to reply, he left her alone in the room.

"Right," Ana said to the closed door. "Next week it would be business as usual, the little fling with your employee forgotten. Better not do anything that could get you sued."

She went to bed and only went to sleep after she had vented her frustration on the thick pillow separating the two halves of the bed.

Hours later she was sleeping so soundly she didn't hear him return, slip into bed beside her or feel him press a soft kiss on her forehead before he tried to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: Surprise….a bonus chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: As always…I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 ** _Back to our story… "Never Give Up on Love"..._**

 ** _Chapter 7_**

Ana awoke Christmas morning to screams. Thinking the house was on fire, she flung back the covers and started to leave the bed, but Christian's strong hand stopped her.

"Kids," he muttered, head buried in the pillow.

As the screaming increased, Ana pulled away from him, but his hand crept up her arm and pulled her down into the bed beside him. During the night the pillow that separated them had slipped down (or been pushed) until it was on the floor.

Christian's hand crept upward into Ana's hair. He still had his face buried, still wasn't looking at her, but she could see his hair, could feel his warmth. The room was dim and the noise outside their room seemed very far away.

As he pulled her down to his level, as his face came next to hers and as his lips touched hers, he whispered, "Kids. Christmas. You know how they are."

"I was an only child. I had breakfast before opening my presents."

"Mmmmm," was all he said as he kissed her, kissed her warmly, softly.

With the touch of his lips it was as though time fell away, to be in bed with a warm, sleepy man as he pulled her into his arms felt so very familiar. So very right. It was easy to slide down so her body was stretched alongside his, to slip her arms about his neck and return his kiss with all the enthusiasm she felt.

Suddenly, the door flew open and in rushed two kids holding toys aloft, brandishing them over the heads of the couple in bed. Bewildered, Ana pulled her face away from Christian's and looked up at the toys the children were waving in the air. The girl had a Barbie doll in a dress with a handful of accessories worthy of any model, while the boy held a box full of trains.

In spite of this confusion, Christian was still kissing her neck while Ana was half on top of him and trying to look at the children's new toys.

Before she could make a suitable comment, because Christian was kissing her throat, a third child came tearing in through the open door with an airplane in his hand, whereupon he crashed into the other two children and sent them flying. Everything – dolls, trains, and children – landed on Christian's head.

Instantly the little girl started screaming that her doll was hurt, while the two boys tumbled to the floor in a fistfight over who had pushed whom. Getting out of bed, Ana scrambled to find the missing pieces belonging to the toys, but it was several minutes before she could find everything and get the children settled.

"Wait," she said to Christian as she picked toys out of the covers, "there seems to be a red high heel in your ear."

"It's not the first time," he muttered, annoyed that the children had interrupted them.

Giving him a quelling look, Ana rounded up the children and pushed them out the door.

Once they were alone again, Christian put his hands behind his head and watched her move about the room as she gathered her clothes. "Our kids will have better manners."

Ana was looking for her belt. "I hope our kids are just as happy and excited as they are and that they…" With a red face, she broke off, glanced at him lying there, grinning at her, and then she scurried into the bathroom to get dressed.

But Christian bounded out of the bed and caught her before she could close the door. "Come on, only child, you're going to miss all the fun."

"I can't go downstairs in my nightgown and robe!"

"Everyone else will be," he said, pulling her, grabbing a T-shirt as he passed a chair.

Christian was right. Downstairs under the Christmas tree was chaos, with an ocean of torn wrapping paper and children everywhere. Adults were sitting in the midst of everything, exchanging gifts and laughing and ignoring the children as best they could.

"Ah, the lovebirds," someone called. "You'd better get over here and see what Santa brought you."

"By the looks of them, I think Santa's already delivered," someone else called, making Ana drop Christian's hand, which she had been holding rather tightly.

It didn't take her long before she plunged into the middle of the paper and the people, and sat on the carpet beside a red wagon with a ribbon tied about its handle. She was pleased that no one had yet opened the gifts she and Christian had purchased and she could have the pleasure of seeing their faces. However, she was surprised when people began heaping gifts into her lap. Each one had a tag telling who had given her the gift, but when she thanked them she saw a look of surprise on their faces, then they'd glance at Christian.

It didn't take her long to figure things out. He was sitting beside her, opening gifts, his face as innocent as a sleeping child's. "You were busy yesterday while I was at K&I Salon, weren't you?" she asked softly, so just he heard. It was obvious that he had purchased all her gifts, had them wrapped, then labeled them as coming from his friends.

He didn't bother to deny it, but just smiled, his thick, black lashes half lowered. "Like your gifts?"

Her lap and some of the floor around her was covered with beautiful objects: a cashmere sweater, a music box, a pair of gold earrings, three pairs of slouchy socks, and a silver picture frame.

"What did I give you?" Sean called. He and Hannah had postponed their honeymoon until the day after Christmas.

Ana laughed. "Let's see," she said, picking up tags. "I think you gave me the string bikini."

"The what?" Christian blurted then turned red when everyone burst out laughing. "Okay, okay," he said, smiling, but he put his arm possessively around Ana's shoulders.

A woman who was Sean's cousin looked at Ana thoughtfully. "You know, Ana, I have met all of Christian's fiancées, and I can tell him now that I've never liked any of them, but you, Ana, I like. You are the first one who has ever looked at Christian with love in her eyes."

"Actually, I forgot my contact lenses," Ana said, "and…" She was halted by boos that made her blush and look down at her lap. Christian's arm tightened about her shoulders.

"So when's the wedding?" someone asked.

Christian didn't hesitate. "As soon as I can persuade her. Look, she won't even wear my ring."

"Maybe it's worn out from being slipped on and off the fingers of so many other women," Sean called, and everyone laughed.

It was at that moment that Sean's mother, Elena, stepped in from the kitchen. "Stop it, all of you! You're embarrassing Ana. I need help in the kitchen!"

To Ana's amazement, the room cleared instantly. Within thirty seconds, there wasn't a single male, young or old, in the huge room, only women, girls, and a mountain of gifts and torn paper. "Works every time," Sean's mom said with a grin. "Now, come on ladies, let's go gossip."

Laughing, the women went upstairs to dress before settling into their various tasks. Alone in the bedroom she shared with Christian, Ana dumped her gifts onto the bed and looked at them. It hadn't taken much sleuthing to find out that everything she'd received as a gift since she'd arrived had been from Christian. She'd been curious to find out what the other women had received as bridesmaid's gifts and was told the gifts had been given out last week. Hadn't she received hers?

More questioning had revealed that pearl necklaces and earrings had not been the gifts given. "If you're referring to the pearls you had on last night," one of the women said, "and if they were a gift from Christian, then you can bet your bank account that they are real."

Ana blinked. "So I guess the bride didn't give out complete sets of white silk underwear."

She'd said it more to herself than to the other women around her, but they heard and set up a howl of laughter that made Ana blush.

So now, alone in their room, she looked at what he'd heaped on her and knew she'd trade everything for an extra hour with Christian. Tomorrow they'd return to Seattle and by the day after they'd be separated forever. Or at least as good as, she thought, remembering the office, with her desk about a million miles from his.

Turning, she noticed an envelope on the pillow, and when she moved the scarf she'd tossed onto the bed, she saw that it had "Merry Christmas, Anastasia" written on it.

Opening it, she saw that it was a short contract signed by Christian and witnessed by Sean. Quickly, she scanned it and saw that it gave her control of a business to be housed in Clayton's Department Store. Christian would put up the capital and she'd supply the expertise. She was to have complete control to run the business in whatever way she saw fit and she was to repay him at five percent interest starting two years after the store opened.

"It's too much," she said aloud. "I didn't want…"

She stopped when she saw that there was a letter with the contract.

 _My Dearest Anastasia,_

 _I know that your first instinct will be to throw this in my face, but I beg you to reconsider. I am a businessman and you have the knowledge and experience to run a business that I believe will show a profit. I am not giving you this contract because I think you are beautiful, funny, excellent company, and because I enjoy being with you. I did this because I was forced to by my constantly pregnant sisters-in-law and family members. I have been told that I may not return home if I sell leather instead of diapers in that old department store._

 _Please don't turn me down._

 _Your future partner,_

 _Christian Trevelyan-Grey_

For a moment Ana's head reeled with the meaning of what he'd written. But it wasn't the business offer that made her dizzy, it was the words _"beautiful, funny, excellent company, and because I enjoy being with you"_ that was about to do her in.

"Stop it!" she commanded herself. "He's not for you. He has women by the truckload and..." she went into the bathroom, where she stared at herself in the mirror. "And, you, you complete and total idiot, are in love with him."

Turning away, she turned on the shower. "Business," she told herself. "Keep it to business and nothing else."

But it wasn't easy to do that. When she went downstairs, she was wearing jeans and a red cashmere sweater set that Christian had given her (under the label of Elena," Sean's mother) and the pearls that she couldn't stop touching. She would, of course, have to return them to him. They were much too expensive of a gift.

People were slowly beginning to move about, some trying to clear the living room, some going outside to play games with the men, and some, like Ana, going to the kitchen to help prepare the Christmas dinner.

Somewhere during the last days she had heard it mentioned that Sean's mother was Christian's mother's best friend. Not that it was any of Ana's business, but didn't best friends tell each other everything? Hadn't about thirty-five people mentioned that Leila was supposed to show up this afternoon?

Ana was curious to know if Elena knew anything about the truth behind the breakup of Leila and Christian.

She spent hours in the kitchen, chopping and peeling, while hearing some outrageous stories about Sean's family and a few about Christian's. Outside the kitchen window she could see Christian, wearing tight jogging pants and an armless sweatshirt, playing touch football. Several times, whenever he made a goal or lost a goal, he looked at her in the window and waved. Happily, Ana waved back. She hadn't had a family in so long, and never had she known all the noise and confusion of this one, with children running around the kitchen, people laughing and, in the living room, singing carols. It was all the noise that small families missed.

She nearly jumped when Elena spoke behind her. "You like all this, don't you? You're happy in the midst of wrapping paper, kids screaming and stuffing onions inside some poor murdered creature aren't you?"

"Yes, very," Ana answered honestly.

"Christian is a very good man."

Ana didn't say anything. Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't. The only thing she knew for sure was that he wasn't hers. "Do you know the truth about Leila?"

She and Elena were alone in the kitchen, as most of the work was done, and for a moment Elena looked at Ana as though considering whether or not to tell her. "I have been sworn to secrecy," Elena said, looking down at her knife.

Ana drew in her breath. A woman admitting that she knew a secret meant that half the battle was won. All Elena needed was a bit of urging. But Ana hesitated. Part of her wanted to know and part of her didn't want to hear. What had made the woman walk out of her wedding like that? What had Christian done to her? "I would truly like to know," she said with feeling.

Elena stared into Ana's eyes for a moment, then smiled and looked back down at her knife. "You really do love him, don't you?"

"Yes," was all Ana could say; she didn't dare allow herself to say another word.

"Leila was madly in love with some poor artist who all of us could see was more interested in her trust fund than he was in her. But love is blind and Leila fought for him with all she had. Her father sent the artist, not that he ever painted anything, a letter saying that if he married Leila, her trust fund would be cut off. He enclosed a check for twenty thousand dollars that would only be honored if the man left Leila. When Leila got home that night, her artist was gone. She blamed her father for everything, and said that if he wanted her to marry a rich man then she would."

Pausing, Elena looked at Ana with her lips tight. Leila systematically went after Christian, the only Grey male who wasn't yet married. She's beautiful, talented, and confident. Christian didn't have a chance. The night before the wedding her artist boyfriend came back, and when Christian returned to their apartment, he found them in bed together."

Elena gave Ana time to assimilate this information before continuing. "Christian refused to marry her, but being the gentleman he is, he allowed everyone to think that Leila was the one who walked out on him. Since then he's been scared to death of marriage. He wants to get married, to have his own home and family, but I think he purposely chooses women who only want his money, then he tests them with some ridiculous prenuptial agreement and when they won't sign, it reinforces his belief that that's all women want from him. I'm glad to see that at last he's going to allow that wound to heal. I'm glad he's going to marry you, someone who actually loves him."

Ana didn't look up from the celery she was dicing for the salad.

"I'm telling you this because Christian has some sort of misguided sense of honor toward Leila, so I didn't think he would ever tell you. There are only two people outside of them who know the truth, Grace, his mother, and I."

"But you told me this because I love him?"

"And because he loves you," Elena answered simply.

Ana smiled indulgently. "No he doesn't. We're not really engaged. He hired me to be his escort for the wedding and to…" She broke off because Elena was smiling at her in a very smug way.

"Ana, get real. Christian doesn't need to hire a woman for anything. He has women making fools of themselves wherever he goes. Grace is constantly complaining about the way the women who work for him make believe he comes with the job. She says he has two women executives so crazy about him they think that any work he gives them is proof of his love for them. His mother tells him to fire them, but Christian is so softhearted he won't. He pays them outrageous salaries then does all the work himself."

"The women complain to everyone because he doesn't share the load," Ana said softly.

"Probably. But Christian always takes the blame rather than allow a woman to look bad. His mother wanted to tell the world about Leila, but Christian wouldn't allow it. Christian is from another era in time."

"Yes," Ana said in agreement. "I believe he is."

"Speak of the devil," Elena said, "a car just pulled up and it's Leila. Ana! Don't look like that. Go out there and…"

Ana was looking out the kitchen window. The arrival of Leila had stopped the ball game because all the men had run toward the car to help the elegant, beautiful, exquisite Leila out of the backseat of the long, black limo. And at the head of the crowd was Christian Grey.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to…to…" Ana could think of nothing she needed to do, so she turned and ran out of the kitchen, and then ran up the stairs to their bedroom.


	9. Chapter 8 - Conclusion

**Disclaimer: As always…I do not own these characters. All rights go to E.L. James**

 **AN: Once again…thank you for the lovely reviews and supporting me in my very first writing endeavor. I know it has been missing a large amount of "Lemons," BDSM and drama that are usually popular with most of these characters on FF. But with it being my first written work and unsure of my abilities…I kind of went slow and stayed with the basic love story. I just wanted to give you a small insight into this version of Ana and Christian.**

 ** _Once again…THANK YOU ;-) and please enjoy the last two chapters of… "Never Give Up on Love"_**

 ** _Chapter 8_**

Thirty minutes later, Ana felt that she had calmed herself enough, and maybe she now had enough control to meet Leila and not thrust a knife into her cold heart. Unfortunately, just outside the bedroom door, she found Leila flanked by Sean and Christian.

Up close, Leila was even more beautiful than she was from a distance. She is a tall beautiful woman with green eyes and gorgeous brown hair. She looks like she just stepped off a Paris runway and is sophisticated enough to make Ana feel completely gauche. Leila was exactly what Ana had envisioned as a woman Christian should marry. No doubt her father was the ambassador to some elegant foreign country, and no doubt she had a master's degree in something useless, like Chinese philosophy.

Just looking at Leila made Ana feel as if she were wearing overalls and had straw sticking out of her hair. No wonder Christian had fallen head over heels in love with her.

Pausing at the head of the stairs, Leila gave Christian a look that could warm a steel I-beam, while Christian just stared at her like a lost puppy, his heart in his eyes. He still loves her, Ana thought, and against her best self-control, a flash of jealousy ran through her.

Sean paused only long enough to introduce Ana as Christian's fiancée, and then he ran down the hall, football in hand, leaving the three of them alone.

"Still trying to get a woman to marry you, Christian?" Leila asked softly, her eyes on Christian, as though Ana did not exist.

"Still paying men to marry you, Leila?" Ana shot back, and then had the satisfaction of seeing Leila's perfectly composed face crumble just before she turned and ran down the stairs. Obviously she'd thought her secret was safe forever and she could taunt Christian at will.

What Ana was not prepared for was Christian's reaction. His strong hand clamped around her upper arm and he half pulled her into their bedroom. When the door was shut, he faced her. "Why did you do that!" he said angrily, his face near hers. "What happened between Leila and me is our business and no one else's, and I will not have you or anyone else sneering at her."

Ana straightened her body, ordering her muscles to remain rigid. If she hadn't, she would have collapsed on the bed in tears. What did it matter to her that Christian Grey was in love with a woman who had publicly made him a laughingstock? "Certainly, Mr. Grey," she said stiffly, and then turned toward the door.

But Christian caught her, shoved her against the wall, and kissed her hungrily. For a moment Ana's pride made her fight him off, but it wasn't long before she was pulling him closer to her, her hands in his hair, her nails digging into his back.

"I hate you," she managed to say as he kissed her neck, his hands moving all over her body.

"Yes, I know. You hate me as much as I hate you."

Later, she didn't know how it happened, but one minute they were against the wall, fully clothed, and the next they were naked and on the bed. Ana had been celibate for over two years and the only way she had remained that way was by repressing all sexual desire. The combination of her anger at Christian and now his soft caresses made her erupt into flames, all her desires exploding at once.

Christian was a worthy opponent and his passion matched hers as he entered her with force, then more gently as he put his mouth over Ana's to keep her from crying out.

It didn't take long, but in those few minutes, a lamp fell crashing to the floor, Ana fell off the bed, and Christian lifted her so her feet were on the floor, her back on the bed.

When Christian came inside her, Ana wrapped her legs about his waist and pulled his body down onto hers, holding him tightly. Her heart was pounding, her breath ragged.

It was several minutes before she could think again, and when she did, she was embarrassed and ashamed. What must he think of her? The poor, uneducated little employee makes a fool of herself over the boss?

"Please," she whispered. "Let me up."

Slowly, Christian raised his head and looked down at her, and when she turned her head away, he put his hand on her chin and made her meet his gray eyes. "What's this?" he asked teasingly. "My little lioness can't be shy, can she?"

Ana looked away from him. "I would like to get up."

But Christian didn't allow her to move away from him. Instead, he pulled her onto the bed, wrapped his big naked body around hers, drew the bedspread over them, and then said, "Tell me what's wrong."

Ana was having trouble thinking, for somehow, this cozy cuddling, their bodies naked, was more intimate than what they had just done. "You…I…" she said, but no coherent words came out of her mouth.

"We made love," he said softly as he planted a kiss onto the top of her head. "It's something I've wanted to do for what seems like years."

"You never knew I existed until a few days ago."

"True, but I've made up in intensity for what I've lacked in time."

She tried to push away from him, but he held her tight.

"I'm not releasing you until you tell me what's wrong."

"What's wrong?" she said with feeling, pushing away enough to look at him. "I am one of your employees and you're the boss and…and…"

"And what?"

"And you're in love with Leila!" she spat at him. After all, how could she make more of a fool of herself than she already had?

To her great annoyance, Christian cuddled her closer and she could feel him chuckling against her.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked when she pinched him.

This time she almost got away before he pulled her back. "I am **_not_** one of your bimbos. I am **_not_** after your money. In fact I want nothing whatever from you, not a business, not anything. Including ever seeing you…" She broke off as he kissed her. "Again," she whispered, finishing her sentence.

"Gladly," he said, pretending to misunderstand.

It was when his hand moved to her breast and Ana could feel herself wanting him again, and feel that he was again ready, that she pushed away from him. She didn't try to get off the bed, but she looked him in the eyes and said, "NO."

"All right," he said, removing his hands from her body. "Tell me what's bothering you. Just don't leave. Please?"

Ana turned on her back, the blanket covering her, none of her body touching his. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted…" At that she turned to look at him. By her calculations, she was at peak fertility today and after what they had just done, maybe she was pregnant.

As though reading her mind, he lifted her hand and kissed it, first the palm, then the back of her hand. When he started kissing her fingertips, she pulled away from him.

But Christian drew her back into his arms, holding her tightly. "I don't love Leila."

"That's not what I saw, and you defended her!"

"Whatever bad I wish to befall Leila, it isn't worse than what has already happened to her. A man married her for her money. I know how that feels, so I have only pity for her. If it helps her to make snide remarks to me, let her. At least I'm not married to her." His voice lowered. "And she's not the mother of my children."

"Do you have many?" she asked as though making conversation. More than anything, she wanted to remain cool and detached. Wasn't it all right to have affairs with men? She wasn't that old fashion to believe that people who went to bed together should get married.

"Maybe we made my first one today," he said softly, then held her as she tried to get away from him.

"It is not a laughing matter. I wanted you to be a donor, not a…a…"

"Lover? Ana, please listen to me. Today wasn't a mistake. I've never before been to bed with a woman without using protection." He lifted her chin to look into her eyes. "I love you, Ana. If you'll have me, I'll try to make you a good husband."

"Me and all the rest of the free world," she said before she thought, then was horrified when she saw the hurt in his eyes. Instantly, he turned away and started to get out of bed.

"I'm sorry," she said, flinging herself onto his back as he sat on the edge of the bed. "Please, I didn't mean that. You don't have to marry me or even ask me to marry you. I know your streak of nobility, how you're a chivalrous knight and…"

Turning, he smiled at her. "Is that what you think of me? You think I ask every woman I go to bed with to marry me?"

Her face gave a positive answer to that.

Christian's face softened with his merriment. "Sweetheart," he said, smoothing a strand of hair behind her ears. "I don't know what's made you decide I'm a saint, but I'm not. Your first opinion of me was the most accurate any woman's ever had. You want to know the truth?"

Ana nodded, her eyes wide, then he pulled her into his arms and lay down beside her on the bed, her head on his shoulder.

"I was never in love with Leila. Not really. I know that now, but it was flattering to have someone like her allow me to chase her."

"Didn't she chase you?" Ana said, then bit her tongue for giving away too much information.

Christian just smiled. "You have to remember I've been around Leila most of my life, and she was the one all of us boys went after. But she was unattainable. She was gorgeous, and by the time she was fourteen, she was built. We used to take bets on who could get Leila to go out with him, but none of us ever succeeded. She studied for her final exams the night of our high school prom; she must have turned down every guy in the school."

So you wanted what you couldn't have?" she said with sarcasm.

"Of course. Doesn't everyone?"

Ana was too interested in the story to think about philosophy. "But you got her."

"In a way. About four years ago she came to my office telling me she wanted me to help her with some investments and I…"

"Made a fool of yourself over her and asked her to marry you, so you could show the other guys that you won."

"In a word, yes."

At that, Ana had to laugh. "So the artist saved you, didn't he?"

Christian hesitated before he answered. "Someday I want to know how you wheedled this information out of my mother. Or whomever she told and who told you."

"Mmmm," was all Ana would answer. "So what about all the other women you asked to marry you?"

He paused, staring off into space. "You know, it was really quite odd, but every woman on earth seemed to think that after what happened with Leila, I was dying to get married. Maybe they thought I wanted to show Leila that I could get another woman if I wanted one."

"So they flung themselves on you," Ana said sarcastically. "You had nothing to do with all those engagement rings and prenuptial agreements."

He didn't laugh in return, but instead, turned so his face was above hers. "I'm serious. Two weeks ago I would have told you that I'd been in love with Leila and maybe that I loved each of those beautiful girls I was engaged to. But now I know that I didn't love any of them, because when I'm with you, Ana, I don't have to be who I'm not. You're the first woman who has looked at me as just a man, not one of the rich Greys, not as a way to jump-start her own career. You saw me and nothing else."

He kissed her cheek. "I know it's sudden and I know you will want to take time to think about this, and I'd love to date you, but I want to warn you what I'm after. I mean to marry you."

Ana's impulse was to throw her arms about his neck and say, "Yes, yes, yes," but instead she looked away for a moment, as though contemplating whether to marry him or not. When she looked back at him, her eyes were serious. "By dating do you mean candle light dinners and roses?"

"How about trips to Paris, a boat ride in a gondola in Venice, and skiing in the Rockies?"

"Perhaps," she said.

Pulling back, he looked at her speculatively. "How about I buy you two more buildings in cities of your choice for those baby stores of yours and set you up with a state-of-the-art accounting computer system?

"Oh!" she said, startled. "With an instant inventory software program?"

"Ana, honey, if you marry me, I'll give you the private code and all access to my own accounting system and you can snoop to your heart's content."

"You sure do know how to make a girl fall in love with you, don't you?"

"Mmmm," was all he said as he moved his leg on top of hers. "Did you know that twins run in my family?"

"I have seen a bit of evidence of that fact."

He was kissing her neck as his hand moved downward "I don't know if you know this, but the way twins are made is to make love lots of times in the same day."

"Is that so? And here the medical people think it has to do with the way an egg divides."

"Nope. The more love, the more kids."

Turning her body toward his, she put her arms about his neck. "Let's try for quintuplets."

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," he murmured before his mouth closed over hers.


	10. Chapter 9 - Epilogue

**Chapter 9 – Epilogue**

 _A few months later…_

"Ana!" said a woman behind her, making Ana turn so quickly she dropped her packages. She was at the Westlake Center Mall, people bustling about, and it took Ana a moment to recognize Elena, the woman she'd met on that remarkable weekend she'd spent with Christian during Christmas.

To the consternation of both of them, Ana burst into tears.

With a motherly arm about the younger woman's shoulders, Elena led Ana to a tiled seat surrounding a quietly splashing fountain, then handed her a clean tissue and waited while Ana calmed herself.

"I am so sorry. I have no idea what is wrong with me. I seem to be bursting into tears constantly. I really am glad to see you. How is everyone? Sean and Hannah?"

"Fine," Elena said, smiling. "Everyone is fine. So, when is your baby due?"

For several minutes Ana worked to control her tears. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only to another mother. Now, why don't you tell me what is bothering you and Christian? He is marrying you, isn't he?"

Ana blew her nose. "Yes, we're to be married in two months in a perfect little ceremony. You're on the guest list." She looked down to her sodden tissue. "Nothing is wrong. Nothing at all. It's just…"

"Come on, you can tell me."

"I'm not sure Christian wants to marry me," she burst out. "I tricked him. I…I seduced him. I wanted a baby so much, and he…" She broke off because Elena was laughing.

"I beg your pardon," Ana said stiffly, and started to get up. "I did not mean to amuse you with my problems."

Elena grabbed Ana's arm and pulled her to sit back down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh; it's just that I've never seen a man pursue a woman as hard as Christian pursued you. Whatever could have made you think he doesn't want to marry you?"

"You really have no idea what you're talking about. If you knew the truth about what went on between us, you'd know that this will be more of a business arrangement than a real marriage. Everything was my idea and…"

"Ana, forgive me, but you're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. Did you know that there were only to be six bridesmaids in the wedding? Christian called Sean in a panic, said he'd met the love of his life and he had to have an excuse to spend the weekend with her. The addition of another bridesmaid to the wedding was his idea. He paid triple for a custom-made dress in your size, then paid for a tux for a friend of his so there'd be a seventh groomsman."

Ana stared at Elena. "Love of his life?" But he told me just after he met me about his problem with finding someone to fit the dress."

"Sean and Hannah have plenty of friends, they didn't need one of Christian's girlfriends. Certainly not when his girlfriends changed as often as Christian's did."

Ana shook her head. "But I don't understand. I don't think he'd even seen me before the night of the Christmas party. What made him make up such a story? Why would he want to? I don't understand."

Elena smiled. "There's a saying in the Grey family, 'Marry the one who can tell the twins apart.'"

Ana's face showed no understanding.

"In Christian's office, there is a photo of a man holding a string of fish, isn't there?"

Ana searched her memory, then remembered that night when she'd been snooping in Christian's office and picked up the photo from the shelf, then dropped it when Christian's voice startled her. "Yes, I remember the picture. It's one of his brothers, isn't it? I remember saying that I'd never seen the man before."

Elena smiled knowingly. "That was a photo of Christian's twin, Caleb, a man who looks exactly like Christian."

"He doesn't look anything like him! Christian is much better looking than that man. He…" She stopped, then looked away from Elena's laughter, taking a moment to compose herself, then looked back. "He made up the whole bridesmaid story?" she asked softly.

"Completely. He offered to pay for the entire wedding if Sean would allow you to be in the ceremony. And he gave Sean free use of his precious boat for six months in return for putting both of you in the same bedroom. Those earrings Christian gave you came from the family vault, an heirloom, something given only to wives. Not girlfriends, wives. And I happen to know that twice that weekend he called home and told his family in detail about you, telling them how intelligent and beautiful you were and that he was doing everything he could to make you love him."

Elena gave Ana's hand a squeeze. "You must have noticed how tongue-tied Christian was around you. We were all laughing because he was so afraid of saying the wrong thing, that often he wouldn't say anything. He told Sean that he kept pretending to ignore you because he'd been told by a man in the office that you ran from any man who showed the least interest in you."

"He told his sisters-in-law and family about the store I wanted to open," she said softly.

"Dear, if he wasn't with you, he was talking about you."

"But I thought he asked me to marry him because…" She broke off, looking into Elena's eyes. "Because I asked for something from him."

"I have never seen a man fall as hard in love with a woman at first sight as he fell for you. He said you picked up a photo in his office, he looked into your eyes, and he fell in love with you in that single moment."

"Why didn't he tell me?" Ana said.

"You mean Christian hasn't told you that he loves you?" Elena asked in horror.

"Yes, he has, many times, but I…" Ana stood. She wasn't going to say out loud that she hadn't believed him, that she couldn't believe that a man like Christian Grey could…

"I have to go," Ana said abruptly. "I have to…Oh, Elena, thank you," she said, then as Elena stood, she hugged her enthusiastically. "Thank you more than you could possibly know. You have made me the happiest woman on earth. I have to go and tell Christian that…that…"

Elena laughed. "Go! What are you waiting for? Go!"

But Ana was already gone.

 ** _AN: Thank you for reading and leaving a review and following me. I will let everyone know when I post my next story, which is currently in the works. Yeah…2017 is finally here and can't wait for February 10th!_**


	11. Chapter 10 - Author's Note 2

**AN: Instead of answering all the reviews individually...I thought I would write another short AN...**

 **OMG...I want to thank EVERYONE for reading my story. As I've mentioned before this was my first FF story and I sat on it for several months before I had the courage to post it. I am a BIG READER and have sooooooo many favorite writers on and off of FF that I follow...and boy am I behind in reading ALL my stories that have updates for the past month. I have sooooo many reviews to write ;0**

 **After reading all your amazing reviews...I'm really touched. I know I made "Never Give Up On Love" a short story and several of you want MORE! There are several ways I COULD write more about this Ana & Christian...as this Christian DOES have a very large immediate and extended family in my mind:**

 **Christian's Parents:**

 **Carrick (age 52) & Grace (age 50)**

 **Grey Kids in age order:**

 **Elliot (age 32) - wife: Karrie (age 30)**

 **Christian (age 30 - oldest of the twin boys) - fiancee: Anastasia Steele (age 25)**

 **Caleb (age 30 - youngest of the twin boys) - wife: Alexandria (age 28)**

 **Mia (age 24 - oldest of the twin girls)**

 **Madalyn (age 24 - youngest of the twin girls)**

 **I'm not sure if I want to get into an extended sub-plot of a story with ALL of these characters. I do have a couple of other version of A &C swirling around in my mind, but it will take me some time to come up with everything I would like to incorporate into a detailed story. Since I am a visual type of person, I was also thinking about including a Pinterest board. Once I get these other two to three versions of A&C out of my mind and downloaded into my computer...I may...think about extending "Never Give Up On Love" into a longer version and what happens after the ending of the Epilogue:**

 _Elena laughed. "Go! What are you waiting for? Go!"_

 _But Ana was already gone..._

 **So...Once again…THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, FanFic Readers...you are truly awesome.**

 **If you want to know if I will be extending this story and/or writing another one, just follow me on FF...I'll be updating soon...most definitely AFTER "Darker" on Feb 10th!**

 **Virginia**

 **XOXO**


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